{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O88345"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O88345/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2009CB7841/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2009CB7841/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2009CB7841","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2009CB7845","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2009CB7844","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2009CB7843","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2009CB7842","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2009CB7840","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2009CB7839","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2009CB7838","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AE9412","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2018KV7891","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O88345/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O88345","accessionNumber":"372-1871","objectType":"Tau-cross head","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"Ivory was used all over Europe for religious works of art. It was often combined with precious metals and usually took the form of relief panels, for book covers, portable altars and caskets. An almost unbroken tradition of ivory carving extends from the Roman and Byzantine empires until the end of the 14th century. From ca. 1250, Paris became the centre of production for figures and reliefs intended for private devotion.\r\n\r\nThis head of a tau-cross in walrus-ivory, is of Anglo-Norman origin and from the first quaerter of 12th century.\r\nIt has long been recognised that the present tau cross head is intimately related to a walrus ivory fragment showing a man entangled in foliate scrolls now in the British Museum, and it has even been thought to be of the same hand. The latter was found in 1920 on the site of the monastic infirmary at St. Albans.","physicalDescription":"Head of a tau-cross carved in walrus ivory. On one side, two figures of men facing inwards and entangled amongst foliated scrolls, that on the right reaching up with his left hand to pick a fruit. On the other side, two winged griffins facing each other and caught up in foliate stalks which they bite. Pin-holes throughout indicate the attachment of metal mounts (perhaps of gilt-copper with jewels). The figures originally had black glass or jet beads inset in their eyes, only one of these survives, in the right eye of the griffin on the right.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"ivory","id":"AAT11857"}],"techniques":[{"text":"carving","id":"AAT53149"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Carved walrus ivory","categories":[{"text":"Sculpture","id":"THES48896"},{"text":"Religion","id":"THES48900"}],"styles":[{"text":"Anglo-Norman","id":"AAT21006"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"SCP","id":"THES48600"},"images":["2009CB7841","2009CB7845","2009CB7844","2009CB7843","2009CB7842","2009CB7840","2009CB7839","2009CB7838","2006AE9412","2018KV7891"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"006","id":"THES395355"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Tau cross head","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"England","id":"x28826"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"first quarter 12th century","earliest":"1100-01-01","latest":"1125-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"4.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Length","value":"14.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"The applied portions in the centre, the knop at the top and the ends are missing, and the whole outer edge seems to have been cut down, possibly for a metal mount.","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Purchased from Webb, £75.\n\nHistorical significance: It has long been recognised that the present tau cross head is intimately related to a walrus ivory fragment showing a man entangled in foliate scrolls now in the British Museum, and it has even been thought to be of the same hand. The latter was found in 1920 on the site of the monastic infirmary at St. Albans.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Tau-cross head, walrus ivory, Anglo-Norman, first quarter of 12th century","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Kendrick, T.D. <u>Late Saxon and Viking art.</u> London : Methuen, 1949, p.124, pl.LXXXIX,1."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Boase, T.S.R. <u>English art : 1100-1216.</u> Oxford : Clarendon Press, 1953, pl.30c & p.90."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Cf. Pinault, Gilberte. Le tau 'du Mans': a Propos f'une Sculpture en Ivoire de Morse. <font -u>Cahiers Archéologiques.</font> 37, 1989. figs. 5-7, 15-16, 27."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"<font -u>List of Objects in the Art Division, South Kensington, Acquired During the Year 1870, Arranged According to the Dates of Acquisition.</font> London : Printed by George E. Eyre and William Spottiswoode for H.M.S.O. p. 31."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Longhurst, Margaret H. <font -u>Catalogue of Carvings in Ivory.</font> London: Published under the Authority of the Board of Education, 1927-1929. Part I. p. 89."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Zarnecki, George. Some Observations Concerning the Romanesque Doorways of Ely Cathedral. <font -u>In</font>: <font -u>Studies in Medieval History Presented to R. Allen Brown.</font>Woodbridge, 1989. p. 350."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Williamson, Paul. <u>Medieval Ivory Carvings. Early Christian to Romanesque</u>. London, V&A Publishing, Victoria and Albert Museum, 2010, pp. 370-373, cat.no. 94"},{"reference":{"text":"Zarnecki, G. et al (eds.), <i>English Romanesque Art 1066-1200</i>, London, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1984","id":"AUTH353419"},"details":"","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"Beckwith, John, <i>Ivory Carvings in early medieval England, 700-1200</i>, London, Arts Council of Great Britain, 1974","id":"AUTH356271"},"details":"","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"<i>Exhibition of English Mediaeval Art, 1930.</i>, London : V&A, Published by authority of the Board of Education, 1930","id":"AUTH357071"},"details":"72","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"D'Onofrio, Mario (ed.), <i>I Normanni. Popolo d'Europa 1030-1200</i>, Venezia : Marsilio, 1994","id":"AUTH357072"},"details":"100","free":""}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"griffins","id":"x30123"},{"text":"figures","id":"x31098"},{"text":"men","id":"AAT25928"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["372-1871"],"accessionNumberNum":"372","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1871,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2016JC0708","2019LN0680","2019LN2140","2019LP4114","2019LR4740","2019LV7879","2019LX0000"],"recordModificationDate":"2026-06-04","recordCreationDate":"2003-12-30","availableToBook":false}}