ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the visual and material aspects of domestic religious observance in post-Reformation England. Early Protestantism is usually understood as an austere and barren culture of the Word and it is commonly assumed that the Reformation effected the wholesale rejection of images and objects as tools for religious practice. It proposes that crafted items placed in conspicuous locations in the domestic environment could operate as spiritual reminders to prompt and support approved forms of Protestant prayer and meditation. Where the historiography does engage with household religious observance the focus is invariably on practices of instruction through language reading, writing, speaking, hearing which neglects other forms of non-verbal communication and devotional experience. Decorating the home with religious themes could serve as a means to express and proclaim the piety of the owner and his household as part of a symbolic language of visual and material display.
