Plaque, bone, Christ in Majesty, Anglo-Saxon, probably first half of the 11th century

The nimbed figure of Christ is shown seated on a rainbow, looking to his right. He blesses with his right hand and holds with his left the top of a diptych book which rests on his knee. The figure is enclosed within a plain raised border with a stepped outline. The outer border is chipped in places, especially at the bottom, but the surface is largely undamaged.

On the back of the plaque is a paper label, with inscription: '[this pl]aque was dug up in the / [garden] of the Rectory at Leckhamstead / which was formerly a Convent. / [fou]nd by Miss Reed. 1831'. It was shown by a Mrs White to the British Archaeological Association on 11 January 1860 and subsequently illustrated. It then passed into the Harman Oates collection, being sold at Sotheby's in London, 20 February 1929. to Dr Tancred Borenius. Then on loan to the V&A from 1930-1955. Purchased from Madame Borenius, Coombe Bisset, near Salisbury, in 1955, £50.

Historical significance: The figure style, the depiction of the fluttering folds of drapery below the left knee of the figure and the general type of Christ in Majesty with the tall, thin diptych book, link the plaque to Anglo-Saxon images in walrus ivory and manuscripts of the first half of the 11th century. It can be compared with the mid-eleventh-century stone relief of Christ in Barnack Church in Cambridgeshire.

The function of the plaque remains unclear. Apparently too small to adorn the centre of a book-cover - the plaque was perhaps mounted on one side of the head of a metal tau-cross of similar design to the contemporary St Heribert tau-cross in Cologne. Alternatively it may have been set into a small reliquary or formed part of a pendant, held in place with metal sheets overlapping the stepped border. It is worth comparing it to the small eleventh century reliquary pendant of copper alloy from Sandford-on-Thames, now in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, which shows Christ in Majesty seated on a rainbow.

This Anglo-Saxon plaque is probably from the first half of the 11th century and represents Christ in Majesty.
The function of the plaque remains unclear. Apparently too small to adorn the centre of a book-cover - the plaque was perhaps mounted on one side of the head of a metal tau-cross of similar design to the contemporary St Heribert tau-cross in Cologne. Alternatively it may have been set into a small reliquary or formed part of a pendant, held in place with metal sheets overlapping the stepped border.
The figure style, the depiction of the fluttering folds of drapery below the left knee of the figure and the general type of Christ in Majesty with the tall, thin diptych book, link the plaque to Anglo-Saxon images in walrus ivory and manuscripts of the first half of the 11th century. It can be compared with the mid-eleventh-century stone relief of Christ in Barnack Church in Cambridgeshire.

A.5-1955