Minutes of meeting, 26 January 1792
Reference code
SAL/02/024/034
Title
Minutes of meeting, 26 January 1792
Date
26/1/1792
Level of description
Item
Scope and content
James Moore presented Nos. 5, 6 and 7 of “Monastic Remains and Ancient Castles in England and Wales”.
W. Seward Hall exhibited a small figure found in the cellar of a house said to be on the former site of the Bishop of London’s palace.
Richard Gough (Director) on analogous representations, in an essay by Passeri [Giovanni Battista Passeri 1694-1780, Italian theologian, historian & antiquary] on a bronze figure of a boy displaying Etruscan lettering from the Vatican Museum, a figure in the author’s own collection and that of Esculapius in Archaeologia Vol IX. The figures, each holding a serpent, were votive and offer thanks for health restored. He remarked on the potential for fragments of antiquity from different countries to offer new light in the search for understanding of apparently unrelated items, citing a medal from an ancient Greek city illustrating Diana and its relevance to a tessellated pavement in Leicester, subject of much discussion and drawn by [John] Carter, showing the same design. Other connections might be found, in comparing a bronze figure from Cirencester (Archaeologia Vol VII) with an Etruscan figure, or pottery found in Lombard Street with that from ancient Roman baths, attesting to trade links between Gaul and Britain. Finally, he cited the resemblance of a mosaic pavement in Spain to that at Stunsfield [Stonesfield], Oxfordshire, both featuring Bacchus holding a thyrsus and riding a tiger.
Part of a Tract, by the late Bishop Lyttelton on original foundation and construction of present fabric of Exeter Cathedral, was read. He cited Bishop Godwin’s work describing the original foundation, subsequent changes and additions made to fabric but showed this to be unreliable as much was borrowed from Cowell’s Catalogue and Description of 1584, whose errors had been repeated by all subsequent writers, from Godwin to Stukeley. There followed a consideration of misidentification of St. Mary’s Chapel as the old Saxon Cathedral built by King Athelstan; its style and construction showed it to be post-Conquest. Another aspect was the extent of the old cathedral, evidence suggesting that it was to the present towers which pre-dated the Nave and Choir. Further consideration of the paper postponed.
W. Seward Hall exhibited a small figure found in the cellar of a house said to be on the former site of the Bishop of London’s palace.
Richard Gough (Director) on analogous representations, in an essay by Passeri [Giovanni Battista Passeri 1694-1780, Italian theologian, historian & antiquary] on a bronze figure of a boy displaying Etruscan lettering from the Vatican Museum, a figure in the author’s own collection and that of Esculapius in Archaeologia Vol IX. The figures, each holding a serpent, were votive and offer thanks for health restored. He remarked on the potential for fragments of antiquity from different countries to offer new light in the search for understanding of apparently unrelated items, citing a medal from an ancient Greek city illustrating Diana and its relevance to a tessellated pavement in Leicester, subject of much discussion and drawn by [John] Carter, showing the same design. Other connections might be found, in comparing a bronze figure from Cirencester (Archaeologia Vol VII) with an Etruscan figure, or pottery found in Lombard Street with that from ancient Roman baths, attesting to trade links between Gaul and Britain. Finally, he cited the resemblance of a mosaic pavement in Spain to that at Stunsfield [Stonesfield], Oxfordshire, both featuring Bacchus holding a thyrsus and riding a tiger.
Part of a Tract, by the late Bishop Lyttelton on original foundation and construction of present fabric of Exeter Cathedral, was read. He cited Bishop Godwin’s work describing the original foundation, subsequent changes and additions made to fabric but showed this to be unreliable as much was borrowed from Cowell’s Catalogue and Description of 1584, whose errors had been repeated by all subsequent writers, from Godwin to Stukeley. There followed a consideration of misidentification of St. Mary’s Chapel as the old Saxon Cathedral built by King Athelstan; its style and construction showed it to be post-Conquest. Another aspect was the extent of the old cathedral, evidence suggesting that it was to the present towers which pre-dated the Nave and Choir. Further consideration of the paper postponed.
Creator
Society of Antiquaries of London
Archival history
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