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ON A SCULPTURED REPRESENTATION OF

HELL CAULDRON,

RECENTLY FOUND AT YORK.

BY JOHN BILSON, F.S.A.

THE stone which forms the subject of this notice is of more than ordinary interest and importance, both on account of the character of its sculpture and its unusually large scale. The thanks of the Society are due to the Dean of York for his kind permission to reproduce an excellent photograph of it, taken by Mr. R. C. Green, the Clerk of Works to the Minster.

The stone was found in September, 1904, in the course of an excavation for a water-pipe, in what is now the garden of the Deanery. It lay with its sculptured face upwards, about 18 inches below the surface, at a distance of some 50 feet to the east of the eastern gable of the former chapel of the Archbishop's Palace, now used as the Dean and Chapter Library. It was removed in remarkably good condition, and it is now preserved in the Library.1

The extreme dimensions of the stone are 5 feet 2 inches in height by 3 feet 2 inches in extreme width, the width at the bottom being 2 feet 10 inches. Its extreme thickness at its base is 12 inches, but this thickness extends for a height of only 6 inches from the bottom, above which the back of the stone is hollowed out to an extreme thickness of 9 inches for the remainder of its height. The object of the additional thickness at the bottom was evidently to afford a firmer base for fixing. On the right-hand edge of the stone there are traces of a rebate cut out of the back to a depth of about half an inch, at a distance of about 8 inches from the front face; there are traces of a similar rebate on the left-hand edge, about 6 inches from the face. The sculpture extends around the angles up to the line of these rebates on the sides, and over the top edge to about

I have to thank the Rev. Canon Watson, the Librarian, for kindly giving me every facility for examining the stone, and Dr. G. A. Auden and Mr. R. C. Green for their kind assistance in this examination. I am specially indebted to Dr. Auden for his help in elucidating several difficult details of the sculpture. Mr. W. H. St. John Hope and Mr. E. S. Prior have also examined the stone with me,

and have kindly given me the benefit of their observations. I am also indebted to the kindness of M. C. Enlart for several suggestions.

2 Throughout this description, the terms "right" and "left" refer to the right and left of the spectator, except where "right" and "left" are used to describe the limbs of figures.

4 inches behind the face. These facts appear to indicate that the slab was fitted into masonry with its front edges standing free. The back of the stone shows signs of decay, either through its not having been solidly bedded, or from its bedding having become defective in course of time. The face shows signs of exposure to the weather, which proves that the stone must have been fixed on the outside of a building. The stone is magnesian limestone from the neighbourhood of Tadcaster, and it is face-bedded. At a distance of 1 inches above the bottom edge, a circular hole, 1 inch in diameter and 2 inches in depth, has been drilled in the front face.

The stone is completely covered with sculpture, representing the hell cauldron and the tortures of the damned. The arrangement of the figures is, in some parts, so extremely complicated that it is by no means easy to describe them intelligibly. It will be most convenient to describe first the three heads on the right side, then the figures above and in the cauldron, and lastly the figures below the cauldron.

The whole height of the right side of the stone is occupied by three heads, the upper of which is erect, the middle one placed sideways, and the lower one inverted. The upper and lower heads, or 'hell-mouths,' are similar in design, and are sculptured around the angle of the stone. They each have large eyes, nose on the angle of the stone, and huge yawning mouth, with a row of large teeth in the upper jaw. The lower lips of the upper and lower heads are continued to form the mouth of the central head.

From the nostrils of each of the upper and lower heads emerge a pair of snake-like forms. That issuing from the left nostril of the upper head is continued into a lizard's body on the right edge of the stone. The corresponding 'snake' of the lower (inverted) head does not appear to terminate in this manner, but the stone is somewhat damaged here.

Both the upper and lower mouths are filled with small figures of souls. Within the upper mouth there are two heads on the angle of the stone, one above the other; a toad is creeping into the mouth, and a lizard is biting the eye, of the lower of these heads on the angle. Opposite this latter, on the edge of the stone, is another head with a toad entering his mouth. Under the teeth of the great mouth is the agonised face of a soul, one of whose eyes is touched by the 'snake' issuing from the right nostril. To the left, at the back of the mouth, is a partially recumbent figure with upturned face and a lizard biting his lower lip. Within the great lower mouth an

1 Cf. "Da ogni bocca dirompea coi denti un peccatore." Dante, Inferno, canto xxxiv., 55, 56.

2 What I have called "lizards" are reptiles represented with four legs and a long tail.

inverted figure, which lies within the line of the lower jaw, is being tortured by four lizards; above, a large lizard coming round the angle of the stone is gnawing his leg; another bites his genitals; a third, which he grasps with his left arm, attacks his stomach; while a fourth attacks his mouth. Below this figure, and between it and the great teeth, is the head of another figure, whose eye is touched by the tail of the lizard last mentioned. On the angle, between the 'snakes' issuing from the nostrils, is the head of another figure, with a toad entering his mouth.

The central head, which is placed sideways with its mouth on the angle of the stone, has large eyes and broad flat nose, with a toad creeping into each nostril.

Across the rest of the width of the stone, in line with this central head, extends the great cauldron, with flames rising around it. At the left extremity of the mouth of the cauldron is a ring; the right extremity is hidden by the great heads on the right side of the stone.

The figures above the cauldron are intertwined in an extremely complicated fashion. Beginning from the left, and describing first the upper range, the angle is occupied by a draped female figure, which evidently represents Luxury. She wears a long dress, girdled at the waist, and falling in straight pleats to the feet, which are hidden behind the rim of the cauldron; and a wimple, which passes under the chin, covers the ears, and apparently passes over the head, though the top of the head has been broken away. Across the face at the nose is a tight bandage. Over her dress she wears a cloak with a hood thrown back from the head. From the uncarved edge of the stone, a three-clawed paw passes to grasp the cloak upon her right shoulder. On the edge of the stone below this appears a bull-dog like dragonesque head, which swallows her right arm, and has one paw resting upon her right thigh. Her left arm is raised, and holds a circular mirror, which appears in front of the hindquarters of the devil immediately to the right; her left hand or wrist is grasped at the level of the ear by a three-clawed paw similar to that mentioned above. These three-clawed limbs appear to have belonged to the figure of a devil which has been broken off behind the woman's head. In front of her upraised forearm, what seems to be her long hair floats away horizontally to the right, passes behind the hind leg and body of the devil next mentioned, and reappears over his back. To the right of this female figure, next the top edge of the stone, is

2

1 Luxury, the vice opposed to Chastity in the series of virtues and vices (Notre-Dame, Paris, Chartres and Amiens). See Emile

Mâle, L'art religieux du XIIIe siècle en
France (Paris, 1902), p. 146.

2 Cf. E. Mâle, op. cit., fig. 50, p. 146.

a devil lying horizontally, with his head to the right, turning round towards the left; he is represented with sharp pointed ears, grinning mouth, and a curling tail. Behind his back appear the heads of two souls. Below is another devil, holding by the leg the figure of a soul upside down. To the left, under the left arm of the female figure, with its hand upon her waist, is another devil with short pointed ears, looking towards the left; coming up between the legs is what appears to represent a twisting tail, which passes round his body. The hand of the first named of these three devils grasps the head of a figure, which is the first (reading from the left) of a series of souls which fill the space up to the uppermost 'hell-mouth' on the right. This first soul, looking towards the right, is pushing against a second soul with head downwards and leg extending upwards into the mouth of a hideous head with large teeth, which is at the top of the stone immediately to the right of the first of the three devils mentioned. above. The second soul has his left arm around the leg of the first soul, and his ear is being bitten by a lizard coming from below. To the right of this second soul is a third, with his head thrown back; his face is being attacked by a snake which, passing behind the leg of the second soul, seems to emerge from the mouth of the first soul. The head of another soul appears in the background, between the body of the third soul and the leg of the second soul. To the right of the third soul is the head of another soul, with a large toad entering his mouth. To the right again is a contorted figure of a soul attempting to flee, with his left knee pressing against the upper side of the great 'hell-mouth' on the right; his face is being bitten by a lizard whose tail is entwined around his arm, while another lizard coming from below attacks his genitals. Below this last lizard is the head of a soul whose brow is being bitten by a lizard crawling up from below, and into whose mouth another lizard appears to enter, issuing from the mouth of another soul placed in the angle between the rim of the cauldron and the upper hell-mouth. The ear of this latter head is in turn attacked by a lizard upon the rim of the cauldron. Immediately to the left of the right end of the scroll described later, and below the lizard mentioned above as biting the brow of a soul, is the upturned head and right shoulder of a soul which is apparently represented as standing upright in the cauldron. The right side of the face is broken away, and the surface is much worn, but an indistinct outline on the stone may possibly indicate a hood similar to that worn by the draped figure already described. A toad or lizard rising out of the cauldron may also perhaps be intended to be sucking the left breast of this figure behind the scroll.

Below the figures described in the last paragraph are two figures of souls in the cauldron, with their heads close together. Each has a large purse suspended round its neck, weighing it down into the cauldron, no doubt indicating that its sin was avarice. The right arm of the left-hand figure and the left arm of the right-hand figure are extended, and the hands hold the ends of what appears to be a scroll, which hangs in the form of a segment of a circle below the purses. The idea suggests itself that the scroll may have borne an inscription, but of this there is no trace whatever, the surface of the scroll being worn quite smooth throughout its length. Apparently each of the purse-figures has one arm passing behind its companion, the hand resting on the opposite neck; the hand can be distinctly seen on the neck of the right figure. A lizard or toad passing beneath the scroll can be seen to be sucking the breast of each of the pursefigures, and from the appearance of the breasts it seems to be certain that these figures represent females. Both seem to have long hair. Under the scroll, and appearing above the edge of the cauldron, we see (reading from the left) the head of a soul with a toad upon it; the head of another soul, from whose mouth emerges the tail of the lizard which sucks the breast of the left hand purse figure; the head of this soul is attacked by a large six-legged creature on its left; then follow the heads of three other souls, the eye of the first being pecked by a beak-like head on its left (similar to that described above); another head with a lizard entering his mouth; a large lizard or toad'; and lastly (on the right), the backward-thrown head of the soul described above in the right angle of the cauldron next to the upper hell-mouth.

1 Avarice is represented by a figure with a purse suspended from its neck in the porch of Moissac (Tarn-et-Garonne), and in the portals of Autun cathedral (see post), Sainte-Croix, Bordeaux, and of Mas d'Agenais (Lot-et-Garonne), all of the twelfth century; in a tympanum from Saint-Yved, Braisne (Aisne), now in the museum at Soissons (commencement of thirteenth century); in the 'Doom' tympanum of the central doorway of the west front of Amiens cathedral (circa 1225); and in a tympanum of Saint-Urbain, Troyes (end of thirteenth century). In a wall-painting in Chaldon church, Surrey, where the cauldron motive also occurs, a figure tormented by devils is seated amid flames; around its neck hangs a money-bag, and three moneybags hang around its waist; it holds a coin in its right hand, and pieces of coin are falling from its mouth. (See Mr. J. G. Waller's paper in Surrey Archeological Collections, v., 275.) Cf. the usurers

with pouches in Dante's Inferno, canto xvii., 55.

2 The tympanum of the south doorway of the abbey church of Conques (Aveyron), which represents the Doom, has on one side of the lower part a representation of a hell-mouth, and Satan crowned, standing in the midst of devils and tortured souls, and above this group is the legend: ·

FVRES, MENDACES, FALSI CVPIDIQVE

RAPACES

SIC SVNT DAMPNATI CVNCTI SIMVL ET
SCELERATI.

G. Fleury, Etudes sur les portails imagés
du XIIe siècle (1904), page 117 and fig. 26.
This tympanum probably dates from
about 1160. Compare also the inscrip-
tions on the tympanum of the central
doorway of the west front of Autun
cathedral. (G. Fleury, op. cit., p. 204.)
3 Cf. the tympanum of Bourges, post.
4 That mentioned in the preceding
paragraph as possibly sucking the breast
of the figure above.

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