Early 19th Century English Antique Armorial Hatchment Representing the Oakes Family of Nowton Court, Suffolk

This large and handsome early nineteenth-century English armorial hatchment bears the arms of the Oakes family of Nowton Court, near Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk.

Painted on canvas within a lozenge-shaped frame, it displays the family arms beneath an oak-tree crest, with a full mantling of gilt acanthus. The motto Quercus robur salus patriae is a characteristically English pun. Quercus robur is the English oak, robur also means strength, and the whole may be rendered “The oak, our strength, is the safety of the country”, an apt device for a family named Oakes.

The Oakes were among the leading families of Georgian Bury St Edmunds. James Oakes (1741–1829), banker, yarn merchant and alderman, is remembered above all for the diaries he kept from 1778 to 1827, one of the richest records of provincial life of the period. His son Orbell Ray Oakes settled at Nowton in 1802 and acquired the manor in 1832. Under Orbell’s son Henry James Oakes, the house was rebuilt and enlarged as Nowton Court, which remained the family seat until the 1980s. The family’s papers survive at Suffolk Archives, Bury St Edmunds.

A hatchment, from “achievement” in the heraldic sense, was a funerary display of the arms of a deceased person. It was hung over the door of the house during the period of mourning, customarily a year, and afterwards was often placed in the parish church. The custom flourished in England from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century. Its conventions allowed a knowing observer to read a good deal about the deceased:

• Bachelors, widowers and widows: their arms were shown on an entirely black ground.
• A married person: the husband’s arms were impaled with those of his wife, and the black ground appeared behind the half belonging to the deceased.
• The last of a line: a skull sometimes took the place of the crest.

Hatchments are now increasingly scarce outside churches. This example combines a fine and legible display of heraldry with a documented family history, and it makes a commanding statement piece for a hall, staircase or library.

Provenance: Early 19th century. England. Found rolled up in a Norfolk barn. The canvas has been re-stretched and re-framed at the time of our acquisition.

Sources:

• British Armorial Bindings – Oakes, James (1741–1829)
• Hazells – Nowton Court history
• Stirnet – Oakes of Nowton
• The National Archives – Oakes family of Nowton Court
• Wikipedia – Nowton Park

Material: Oil on canvas, on a wooden stretcher; within a later ebonised frame with a gilt inner slip.

Condition: The canvas has been re-stretched and the paint surface stabilised. There is craquelure, wear and minor retouching consistent with age. Please refer to the images. A further detailed condition report is available on request.

Dimensions: With frame 58 × 58 in (147.3 × 147.3 cm); without frame 49 × 49 in (124.5 × 124.5 cm)