Box, oval, walrus ivory with (later) silver mounts, decorated with carved figures, lions and centaurs, England (St Albans), ca. 1150

Oval box, walrus ivory with (later) silver mounts. On the front of the box are two men seared on lions (or lionesses?), holding scourges and bending backwards to bow to one another. On the other side are two centaurs with drawn bows, aiming away from one another. At each end is a small tree with two branches, one terminating in a flower, the other with a fruit. On the lid are foliage sprays in four compartments, with a plain moulding and a flat rectangular top, now covered with a sivler panel. The silver mounts probably of early 19th century date.

The imagery and style of the carving has been compared illuminations in the St Albans Psalter and the Bury Bible, so that a date between the execution of these two manuscripts, in around 1130, would seem most likely for the box. Katherine Bateman has attempted to explain the iconography as 'an allegorical statement of man's unending inner struggle, his fight against evil in the human soul', with the centaurs symbolising the two sides of man, those of good and evil, shooting arrows of temptation towards their victims.
from the catalogue for English Romanesque Art 1066-1200, Hayward Gallery London, 1984.
The silver mounts are probably of early 19th century date.
It is likely that the present front of the box was originally the back, due to some holes now filled with wood plugs.

Historical significance: The centaur was commonplace in Romanesque art, both as a representation of Sagittarius and as a symbol of moral struggle. In the latter connection the centaur had often been interpreted as standing for the two sides of man, his lower half connected with the baser animal instincts, the upper with his rational, benign nature.

The original function of the box is not known.

silver mounts probably from the ealry 19th century

The imagery and style of the carving has been compared illuminations in the St Albans Psalter and the Bury Bible.
The original function of the box is not known.

The centaur was commonplace in Romanesque art, both as a representation of Sagittarius and as a symbol of moral struggle. In the latter connection the centaur had often been interpreted as standing for the two sides of man, his lower half connected with the baser animal instincts, the upper with his rational, benign nature.

208-1874