Tau head, ivory, two dragons' heads, Greek, ca. 1700-1800

Tau head carved in ivory in the form of two dragons' heads curving from a central boss. The dragons' tongues were once set in to the back of the heads, and filled circles at the back of each head show where they must have been inserted. Two quatrefoil panels on the central boss, each above a rosette, show the Crucifixion with the Virgin and St John the Evangelist, and the Resurrection of Christ. Above each scene are inscriptions in Greek lettering. On the Crucifixion above the Virgin in an abbreviation of Maria, and above St John is his name, while over the crucifix are the letters 'INR' (probably originally 'INRI'), and 'XC' for Christus. A half-illegible and possibly corrupt inscription above the Resurrection seems to read 'EKPHTA', which can be transliterates as 'EKRETA', the meaning of which is uncertain. The panels are surrounded with floral and foliate designs, and the dragons' necks are likewise decorated with foliate designs.

Given by Mrs Ellen Hearn, Villa St Louis, Menton in 1923; this and other objects presented at the same time were labelled as the Alfred Williams Hearn gift.

This ivory tau cross head was made in ca. 1700-1800 in Greece. It is formed of two dragons' heads curving from a central boss on which are two quatrefoil panels. The Greek inscription suggest that this piece was almost certainly mad ein Greece, and posssibly, as Longhurst suggested, for some bishop of the Eastern Greek church. Broad comparisons can be made with the tau heads illustrated in Manafis 1990, and with analogous works in the Monastery of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai, known to be from Constantinople (for those see V&A-Mus. nos: 262-1867, 944-1904, 461-1877). Tau heads formed the tops of crosses or staffs in the shape of a T, the Greek letter ‘tau’, hence the name.

A.65-1923