A series of oak armorial panels from a house lived in by Mary, Queen of Scots’s mother Mary of Guise, have been acquired and conserved by National Museums Scotland.
The four roundels are said to have come from a house in Blyth’s Close, in Edinburgh’s Old Town, where Mary of Guise lived from around 1543 to 1554. One of the roundels features the combined coats of arms of Mary of Guise’s husband, King James V and her own. Roundels like this were usually part of elaborate decorations and were used to promote the status of those who lived there.
Dr Anna Groundwater, Principal Curator, Renaissance and Early Modern History at National Museums Scotland, said, “These armorial panels are a fantastic addition to the National Collections. We are very pleased to have been able to acquire them and look forward to putting them on public display in the future. They are important pieces in their own right and complement our existing collection of material associated with Marie de Guise already on display. We are particularly pleased to add these marital coat of arms of Mary, Queen of Scots’ parents.”
These roundels join other decorative objects associated with Mary of Guise already in National Museums Scotland’s collections, including carved oak doors salvaged from the same house when it was demolished, as well as sixteen oak medallion panels.
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