A forgotten Assumption of the Virgin: the reredos at St Andrew, Sandford-on-Thames, Oxfordshire

Apollo, Sept, 2003 by Charles Tracy

Given the availability of county guides past and present for Oxfordshire, it is surprising that the monumental stone sculpture which is the subject of the present article enjoys virtually no public profile at all, let alone the reputation--which it surely deserves--as an important work of the late medieval English school (Figs. 1-4). (1) In addition to its respectable, if evidently provincial, artistic qualities, the extreme rarity of its function, almost certainly the central component of a reredos for a chantry chapel or even the high altar of an important church, is reason enough for it to be better appreciated. Here I will try to deduce the work's most likely provenance and function, and establish a reasonable stylistic context for it. This in turn will allow it to be introduced to a wider audience, and reveal it as a representative example of a category of English medieval art with few surviving parallels.

[FIGURES 1-4 OMITTED]

The monument is large (145 x 98 x 15 cm) by comparison with the ubiquitous alabaster panels of the period. (2) It is currently fixed to the south wall of the choir at Sandford. Mary stands within a rayed mandorla, dressed in a mantle fastened by cords, over a gown. She is wearing an imperial state crown, and her hands, although broken at the wrists, are unmistakably turned down and face the front. The mandorla, or sunburst, is supported by six angels, wearing girdled albs, gathered at hip level, and amices, with carved looped clouds or stars at their feet. At the base, and standing in front of a slightly projecting integral plinth on terra firma are two angels supporting the top of what appears to be a monstrance, or reliquary. The front plane of this has been partially damaged, as has the Virgin's face, particularly her nose. The surface of the bottom left-hand angel is abraded, and the left hand of its companion on the other side has been sheered off. The damage suffered by the sculpture is more likely to have been due to accident or environment than iconoclasm. Much of the original colour survives. The paint analysis, carried out by Catherine Hassall, concludes that 'the paint layers, which include verdigris and azurite, are those one would expect to find on a piece of late medieval polychromy'. (3) It consisted of crimson for the Virgin's gown and the angels' albs, azurite blue for her mantle and a component of the clouds, and light--but probably originally dark--green as a background, outlining the mandorla and the presumed monstrance at the base. The inclusion of azurite blue and lake (organic) glazes indicates that this was a sophisticated and expensive colour scheme. Very little of the original gilding remains, but it can be seen on the underside of the left-hand angel at the base, and the back surface of the interior of the monstrance. The angels' wings and hair were almost certainly gilded, and their faces painted. (4)

The sculpture was rediscovered in 1723 upside down near the south porch of the church, where it had been used as a step. (5) The back of the slab had been worn very hollow, but the gilding and colour on the front were round to be in an excellent state of preservation. It is not certain where in the church it was placed after its discovery, but it is supposed to have been in its present position since 1805. (6) There are three fixing points, two on the left hand side and one on the right. (7) In the words of Philip Powell, they consist of 'a square sided channel about 1 cm wide cut into the side of the stone. On the face of the stone there is a broader, shallow depression, presumably for the flattened end of an iron bar.' (8)

In the Sandford entry in the Oxford and Oxfordshire volume in the Buildings of England series, published in 1974, the work is referred to as being made of alabaster, which is not in fact the case. (9) In this connection, the authors seem to have been relying upon the word of W. Hobart Bird, who in 1932 may have been the first to perpetrate this lithological error. (10) In fairness, the work is grievously disadvantaged in its siting on the south wall of a small single-cell parish church chancel. (11) It receives no natural lighting from behind, and has to compete with a lancet window immediately to its east side. In the circumstances, it is understandable that a casual observer, without assistance from the modern, albeit indirect spotlighting which it now enjoys, should have made such a mistake. None the less, the much smaller English reredos Assumption panels which were produced by the alabaster workshops of Derbyshire and Nottingham throughout the fifteenth century, constitute valid iconographical parallels. (12) On inspection, the characteristics of lime stone are unmistakable. The material probably came from the middle Jurassic Taynton limestone formation, and specifically from Barrington, 'or a nearby quarry in the Burford area'. (13)

As will become apparent, the monument cannot have originated from a rural parish church of Sandford's medieval proportions. During the course of its quiet existence from the late twelfth century, the church had intimate associations with four local ecclesiastical institutions. Firstly, there was the Benedictine priory of nuns at Littlemore, dedicated to St Mary, St Nicholas and St Edmund, in the same parish. Secondly, the Knights Templars, who moved to Sandford soon after 1240 from Temple Cowley, and the Hospitallers, who took over from them, used the site as a preceptory until 1530. Thirdly, there was the Benedictine monastery at Abingdon, which lists Sandford as one of its lands in Domesday Book. (14) The right of presentation in respect of St Andrew was originally, and at different times, in both lay and royal hands, (15) but by 1220 the advowson (the right of presentation to the benefice) and rectory had passed to Littlemore. (16) By 1295 the Templars, being patrons of the priory, acquired this role on the nuns' behalf. Later Edward III interpolated a royal claim for it, on the basis that the Templar lands had escheated to the crown. In any case, the prioress seems to have continued to pay the curate's salary, as she is recorded as doing so in 1526. Littlemore Priory was suppressed by Papal Bull as early as 1524, and given to Wolsey for his new college at Oxford (which was to become Christ Church). (17) Four years later, the Sandford preceptory also passed to Wolsey, and soon thereafter to the King. The last abbot of Abingdon did not surrender until 1539.