Morris and Co (possibly). An important Arts and Crafts bas-relief carved and polychrome painted walnut three-fold screen

An important Arts and Crafts bas-relief carved and polychrome painted walnut three-fold screen, of St Michael the Archangel, St Patrick? and St George, 179cm high, each panel 70cm wide Evidently a commission with a definite theme in mind and represent three manifestations of the triumph of God over the Devil or/and of Good over Evil. Each picture is painted in strong primary colours. Blue represents Heaven and heavenly love; green the colour of spring and the triumph of spring over winter. It is very interesting that the sky is gold in each of the paintings because this is the sign of divinity and indicates the sacredness of what is depicted. Thus, the sky acts as a sacred backdrop to the scenes in the foreground as well as the haloes indicating the sanctity of the individual figures. The dragons are interesting in that they appear to be multi-headed and multi-tailed with wings. Evil can be represented by dragons, demons or snakes. Some of the dragons here appear to be hybrids It is quite possible that this is a rare Morris and Co. piece. The polychrome colours and carvings are quite reminiscent of the work Morris and friends did at the Kensington Museum.