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A FRAGMENT OF COSMATESQUE MOSAIC FROM WIMBORNE MINSTER, DORSET

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 April 2014

Lawrence Rees  and
Michael J T Lewis
Lawrence Rees
Affiliation:
Lawrence Rees, 11 Quay Street, Newport, Isle of Wight PO30 5BA, UK. Email: lawrencerees@hotmail.com
Michael J T Lewis
Affiliation:
Michael J T Lewis, FSA, 60 Hardwick Street, Hull HU5 3PJ, UK. Email: michael@lew.karoo.co.uk
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Abstract

It has hitherto been supposed that, north of the Alps, the elaborate medieval mosaic work known as Cosmatesque was confined to Westminster Abbey. An example with glass tesserae, however, has now come to light from Wimborne Minster, Dorset. This paper explores the circumstances of the rediscovery there in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries of pieces of ‘rich mosaic’, describes the surviving fragment and compares it in style and function to counterparts in Rome and in the Confessor's Chapel at Westminster. It concludes that it dates, like those at Westminster, to the 1270s or 1280s. It suggests that it adorned the shrine of Wimborne's Saxon founder, St Cuthburga, and that the patron who commissioned it was most likely Henry de Lacy, Earl of Lincoln, lord of the nearby manor of Kingston Lacy and close associate of Edward i.

Résumé

On avait supposé jusqu’à présent qu'au nord des Alpes, les exemples de mosaïques médiévales complexes dites cosmatesque n'existaient que dans l'abbaye de Westminster. Toutefois, un exemple composé de tesselles en verre, venant de Wimborne Minster, dans le Dorset, a été mis au jour. Cet article étudie les circonstances de la redécouverte à cet endroit, aux XVIIIe et XIXe siècles, d’éléments de « riches mosaïques », décrit le fragment qui subsiste et le compare sur le plan du style et de la fonction aux exemples de Rome et de la chapelle du Confesseur (abbaye de Westminster). Il conclut que, comme ceux de Westminster, ce fragment remonte aux années 1270 ou 1280. Il émet l'hypothèse qu'il décorait le tombeau de sainte Cuthburga, la fondatrice saxonne de Wimborne et qu'il avait été sans doute commandé par Henry de Lacy, comte de Lincoln, seigneur du manoir voisin de Kingston Lacy et proche d’Édouard Ier.

Zusammenfassung

Bisher wurde angenommen, dass die kunstreichen mittelalterlichen Mosaikarbeiten, “Cosmatesca” genannt, nördlich der Alpen auf die Westminster Abbey beschränkt waren. Jetzt ist jedoch ein Beispiel mit gläsernen Tesserae im Wimborne Minster in der Grafschaft Dorset zum Vorschein gekommen. Diese Abhandlung erforscht die Umstände der dortigen Neuentdeckung im 18. und 19. Jahrhundert von “prächtigen Mosaikstücken”, sie beschreibt das erhaltene Fragment, vergleicht es in Bezug auf Stil und Funktion mit Gegenstücken in Rom und in der Confessor's Chapel in Westminster Abbey und kommt zu dem Schluss, dass es, wie die Mosaike in Westminster, auf die Zeit zwischen 1270 und 1290 zurückgeht. Es wird nahegelegt, dass das Mosaik den Schrein von Wimbornes sächsischer Gründerin, der hl. Cuthburga, schmückte, und dass es wahrscheinlich vom Earl of Lincoln, Henry de Lacy, dem Besitzer des nahegelegenen Guts Kingston Lacy und engem Vertrauten Eduards I., in Auftrag gegeben wurde.

Type
Papers
Information
The Antiquaries Journal , Volume 94 , September 2014 , pp. 135 - 151
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 2014 

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