Pair of obelisks
Creator(s): Attributed to Grinling Gibbons
Date: c.1710
Accession Number: WA 1040
Materials: Wood
Location: Westminster Abbey, London, SW1 3PA
Credit Line (copyright notice for material) : By courtesy of the Dean and Chapter of Westminster
NOTES ON THE ARTWORK
Pair of four-sided pyramidal obelisks which once formed the crowning finials of giant gate piers built to flank the entry through the quire screen in the late seventeenth century, probably taken down when Hawksmoor refashioned the screen in 1728. (See engraving showing choir screen with pyramids in J.Dart, 1723). Each face of the obelisk was originally carved with a cherub’s head and with foliage and other decorative devices. Only two heads and some of the foliage decoration (all of fine quality) now survives.
