Cranbrook House Oak Room Cartouche Panel: Christmas in the Oak Room
This cartouche panel, located above the fireplace on the south wall of the Oak Room at Cranbrook House, was one of sixty carved for the room after designs by John Kirchmayer, a German American woodcarver and member of the Boston Society of Arts and Crafts. The tradition of painting cartouches to commemorate events in the history of Cranbrook and the Booth family was begun by Henry Scripps Booth in 1921, and continues today.
This, the first cartouche painted in the Oak Room, was painted by Henry Scripps Booth to commemorate the completion of the Oak Room just in time for Christmas in 1920. The cartouche panels themselves were the last element to be put in place, as documented in telegrams between George Booth and the William F. Ross & Co. workshop in Detroit. This was the only time the family celebrated Christmas in the Oak Room. In the cartouche, we can see the Christmas tree aglow with candles and sparkling baubles, while the Star of Bethlehem stands out against a dark background above.
Mariam Hale
2023-2025 Collections Fellow
Kevin Adkisson
Curator
Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research
December 2024
Width: 18 in (45.7 cm)
ProvenanceGeorge Gough Booth and Ellen Scripps Booth (1920-1949)
Cranbrook Foundation (1949-1973)
Cranbrook Educational Community (1973-present)
Credit LineCranbrook Center for Collections and Research
Cultural Properties Collection, Founders Collection
Bequest of George Gough Booth and Ellen Scripps Booth through the Cranbrook Foundation
Medium | MaterialsCarved oak; paint
GenreObject TypeCartouches (ornament)
Select Bibliography and Archival Citation(s)Booth, Henry Scripps. "History." Series IV: Writings, Subseries 10. Henry Scripps Booth and Carolyn Farr Booth Papers (1982-05). Cranbrook Archives, Cranbrook Center for Collections and Research, Bloomfield Hills, MI.
