Panel thumbnail 1
Panel thumbnail 2
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images
Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Sacred Silver & Stained Glass, Room 84, The Whiteley Galleries

Panel

ca. 1200-1220 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This panel formed part of the border of a window from Canterbury Cathedral in Kent. The acanthus flower was a common decorative motif at the time it was made, and illustrates the wide range of classical motifs in the decorative arts that were available to the medieval craftsman.

Some of the surviving medieval glass was removed from the cathedral in the mid-1800s and replaced with copies. The original panels were stored in various glaziers’ workshops, and eventually sold off to private collectors. This makes it difficult to determine where this panel may have come from.

Over time, some of the original panels from the cathedral have come into museum collections in Britain and in the United States.

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Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Stained glass
Brief description
Panel of foliage of clear, coloured and flashed glass with painted details. Originally border panels from a window in Canterbury Cathedral. English, about 1200-1220.
Physical description
Stained glass panel, rectangular section of border from a window, composed of four repeating acanthus motifs arranged vertically in blue and white glass with black painted details flanked by beaded borders in yellow and green glass.
On a red ground between yellow and green beaded edges are four upward growing pairs of blue leaves with a central white palmette.
Dimensions
  • Sight height: 35.2cm
  • Sight width: 25.8cm
  • Framed height: 36.5cm
  • Framed width: 28.2cm
  • Framed depth: 2.8cm
  • Framed weight: 2.86kg
Gallery label
BORDER PANELS These two sections of border decoration come from windows at Canterbury Cathedral. England (Canterbury), about 1200-1220 Museum nos. C.7 and C.8-1959((PW) 2003)
Object history
All three panels (C.2-1958, C.7 & 8-1959) had been purchased from Canterbury by Philip Nelson. John Hunt purchased them from Nelson's estate and later gave them to the museum.
Production
From a window in Canterbury Cathedral
Subject depicted
Summary
This panel formed part of the border of a window from Canterbury Cathedral in Kent. The acanthus flower was a common decorative motif at the time it was made, and illustrates the wide range of classical motifs in the decorative arts that were available to the medieval craftsman.

Some of the surviving medieval glass was removed from the cathedral in the mid-1800s and replaced with copies. The original panels were stored in various glaziers’ workshops, and eventually sold off to private collectors. This makes it difficult to determine where this panel may have come from.

Over time, some of the original panels from the cathedral have come into museum collections in Britain and in the United States.
Associated objects
Bibliographic references
  • Konrad Hoffmann, The Year 1200: A Centennial Exhibition at the Metropolitan I. Catalogue, New York, 1970
  • M.H. Caviness, The Windows of Christ Church Canterbury Cathedral (Corpus Vitrearum Medii Aevi, Great Britain, 2, London, 1981)
  • M.H. Caviness, The Early Stained Glass of Canterbury Cathedral circa 1175-1220, Princeton, 1977
Collection
Accession number
C.7-1959

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Record createdNovember 7, 2002
Record URL
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