Physical description
Pair of pierced and carved whalebone panels, formerly attached to the binding of a Bible printed in Paris in 1552.
The front piece (8461A-1863) shows a lion in a medallion in the centre. In the corners are four quadrupeds (lion cubs?), each in a segment of a circle connected with the central medallion by diagonals in which are bands of bead-and-leaf ornament. Bead-and-reel ornament fills the borders of the segments and the main border, and the intervening spaces are filled with lush acanthus leaves enlivened with bead decoration.
The back piece (8461B-1863), possibly to be interpreted as The Tree of Life, is filled with a dense design of acanthus foliage branching from a central stem, also with beaded decoration, and has a border of bead-and-reel ornament.
[Panel] The back piece (8461B-1863), possibly to be interpreted as The Tree of Life, is filled with a dense design of acanthus foliage branching from a central stem, also with beaded decoration, and has a border of bead-and-reel ornament.
[Panel] The front piece (8461A-1863) shows a lion in a medallion in the centre. In the corners are four quadrupeds (lion cubs?), each in a segment of a circle connected with the central medallion by diagonals in which are bands of bead-and-leaf ornament. Bead-and-reel ornament fills the borders of the segments and the main border, and the intervening spaces are filled with lush acanthus leaves enlivened with bead decoration.
Place of Origin
Canterbury, United Kingdom (probably, made)
Date
first quarter of the 12th century (made)
Artist/maker
unknown (production)
Materials and Techniques
Pierced and carved whalebone, formerly with gilt or silver background
Dimensions
Height: 21.4 cm for 8461A-1863, Width: 13.1 cm for 8461A-1863, Depth: 0.5 cm, Weight: 0.18 kg, Height: 21.9 cm for 8461B-1863, Width: 12.7 cm for 8461B-1863
[Panel] Height: 21.5 cm, Width: 13 cm
[Panel] Height: 22.5 cm, Width: 13.5 cm
Object history note
Acquired in 1863. Formerly mounted on the covers of a Bible printed in Paris in 1552 which is now in the National Art Library (Press mark 88.E.23). The covers were removed in 1921.
Historical context note
These panels would have originally formed the front and back covers of a manuscript; it is possible that a gold or silver background highlighted the designs.
Rather similarly treated foliage appears on Lotharingian goldsmith's work of the second half of the twelfth century, though this date appears a little late for the reliefs. The type of foliage ornament and prancing lions have their closest parallels in the crypt capitals at Canterbury Cathedral (especially those illustrated by Zarnecki, 1951, pl. 49) of around 1100-20, where the flattened leaf forms and beading of the panels, ultimately derived from the late Anglo-Saxon 'Winchester acanthus. can be matched exactly.
Dr Otto Pächt has suggested (verbally) that the ornament on these reliefs should be compared to that in the second Winchester Bible (Oxford: Bodleian M.S.Auct.E.inf.1) illuminated at Winchester ca. 1140-1150. parallels are to be found among the interlaced foliated scrolls in the initial on fol. 31. (cf.T.S.R. Boase, English Art 1100-1216, Oxford, 1953, pl.66a) and f.278v. These comparisons suggest that the reliefs are English work of the second quater of the 12th-century. Dr Pächt also suggested the hypothesis that the reliefs were originally the cover of the Shaftesbury Psalter (B.M. M.S. Lansdowne 383).
Descriptive line
Book cover, pair of pierced and carved whalebone panels, formerly attached to the binding of a printed Bible of 1552, English (probably Canterbury), first quarter of the 12th century
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
Kahn, D: Canterbury cathedral and its Romanesque Sculpture, London, 1991, p. 25, ill. 15
cited as 'Canterbury, ca. 1100'
Inventory of Art Objects Acquired in the Year 1863 In: Inventory of the Objects in the Art Division of the Museum at South Kensington, Arranged According to the Dates of their Acquisition. Vol I. London: Printed by George E. Eyre and William Spottiswoode for H.M.S.O., 1868, p. 2
Longhurst, Margaret H. Catalogue of Carvings in Ivory. Part I. London: Victoria and Albert Museum, 1927, p. 91
Williamson, Paul. Medieval Ivory Carvings. Early Christian to Romanesque. London, V&A Publishing, Victoria and Albert Museum, 2010, pp. 366-369, cat.no. 93
Exhibition History
Exhibition of Ivory Carvings in Early Medieval England 700-1200 (Victoria and Albert Museum 01/01/1974-31/08/2005)
English Romanesque Art 1066-1200 (Hayward Gallery, London 05/04/1984-08/07/1984)
Labels and date
TWO PIERCED RELIEFS
Whalebone
ENGLISH (Canterbury ?)
First quarter of the 12th century
The panels originally would have formed the front and back covers of a manuscript, and it is possible that a gold or silver background highlighted the designs. They were later mounted on the covers of a Bible printed in Paris in 1552, now in the V&A Library. [1996]
Materials
Whalebone
Techniques
Carving; Piercing
Subjects depicted
Lion; Ornament
Categories
Sculpture; Books
Collection code
SCP
