Jester
  108mm (4.25") high x 108mm (4.25") wide
 

This figure is taken from a Flemish manuscript of about 1320, at the time of King Edward III. The Jester holds his traditional 'bauble' which was used as a foil for his humorous antics, rather like the ventriloquist and his dummy of today.

It was an indulgence of monarchs in the medieval Court to retain a Jester in their service to bring humour in times of trouble and a smile to a soul wearied by the burdens of statecraft. Henry VIII had four Fools: Will Somers, the Duke of Lancaster, Diego the Spaniard and Peche, to whom, it is recorded, he gave 6s. 8d. 'in reward ' on January 12^th. 1493. Elizabeth, wife of Henry VII had 'Patch', Queen Elizabeth 'Robert Grene', James I 'Archie Armstrong' and 'Thomas Derrie'. The last court Fool in England was, unsurprisingly, that of Charles I: it remained unrecorded whether 'Muckle John's' humorous talents were sufficient to raise a smile on the decapitated monarch's face as it lay in the wicker basket..

The background of the plaque is a medieval decorative device - the 'quatrefoil' ('four-leaf').

 

 These castings are designed, sculpted and manufactured in England, using resin-bonded marble, bronze and Cotswold stone. Modern moulding techniques faithfully reproduce the intricate and painstaking work of the sculptor whilst giving the appearance of real carved stone or sculpted terracotta. The resin sculptures are weatherproof, the plaques having a hole drilled in the back for easy hanging