Stratford misericords.

[poliphilo]

A misericord is the ledge on the underside of a tip up seat in a choir stall that gives the stall's occupant something to perch on during the upstanding bits of the service. Misericords are often beautifully carved and- presumably because they weren't on open display- the carvers were allowed to have fun with them.  Holy Trinity, Stratford has a fine 15th century set. While Ailz attended the OU Shakespeare society's annual general meeting last Saturday I snuck out and took some photographs.
 


These are mermen, I think. The one centre right looks a lot like one of those hoaxes known as feejees which consist of the upper bit of a dried monkey stitched to the lower part of a dried fish.



This is outrageous stuff. On the left a man and woman fighting- he pulls her hair, she kicks him in the nuts,  in the centre a figure I'm guessing to be the Whore of Babylon but which a site I consulted describes as a sphinx, and on the right a naked man birching a naked woman whose leg is being eaten by a dog.
 


My favourite. A woman in bed flanked by flying monsters. I like to think she's dreaming them.



She has a da Vinci smile.

Comments

[solar-diablo.livejournal.com]

I was going to ask what sort of pervy activity "birching" was until I saw her raised arse and him holding a birch branch.

Duh.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Birching used to be the punishment of choice in English schools- hence our national taste for flagellation- known to the French as "le vice anglais".