Beaton Panels

Acquisition of a group of 16th century wood carvings, arranged in their present form in the 17th century to cover part of a wall in the dinng room of Balfour House in Fife. They were commissioned by Cardinal David Beaton (1494-1546) around 1530. The panels are carved with religious and heraldic designs and have strong stylistic and iconographic links with contemporary Flemish and Northern French art. They are rare survivals of a Scottish pre-Reformation decorative scheme.