Enhanced image
Description
A carved half-length figure on the west edge of Bay PV1, photographed obliquely from below. It has a dark rounded hairstyle or head covering, a red garment and both hands placed around a pointed shield. The figure is set against painted beams with alternating dark and pale bands and small floral motifs. No wings are visible.
Heraldry
Blazon: Quarterly: first and fourth Azure, three fleurs-de-lis Or; second and third Gules, three lions passant guardant in pale Or.
Plain English: The shield is divided into four. The first and fourth quarters contain three gold fleurs-de-lis on blue, representing the English monarch’s claim to France. The second and third should contain three gold lions, one above another, on red, representing England. These combined royal arms were used by the English kings from Henry IV onward.
For a ceiling dating from about 1455, they would specifically represent King Henry VI of the House of Lancaster, a branch of the royal Plantagenet family.
Only one pale animal is now clearly distinguishable in each red quarter. In the upper-right it has become fish-like, while the damaged lower-left animal looks rather like a horse. This is probably the result of paint loss and later restoration on a very small shield; neither should now be described as a dolphin or horse.
So the suitable family identification is: House of Lancaster — the royal arms of King Henry V
Identificaton: RCHME: France quartering gules a lion passant or; Buckeridge: Quarterly 1 and 4, Azure ? 2 and 3, gules a horse argent.
Condition
The figure and shield appear substantially intact, although the photograph does not show every side of the carving. Much of the surface paint is abraded, especially on the face and shield; a larger loss of pale paint is visible on the figure’s right shoulder in the photograph. A vertical split or joint is visible down the centre of the garment. The shield design is too faint for secure interpretation.