The Alfred Jewel

It's CH's and my wedding anniversary today, so we went out for some together (in the same place at the same time, rather than in separate spaces, one doing music and the other doing photography stuff) time.

There are currently a couple of interesting art exhibitions running at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford; one is called Love Bites and features cartoons by the great C18th/19th caricaturist James Gilray; and the other is descriptively titled Great British Drawings, and does pretty much what it says on the tin. I recommend them both if you're in the vicinity - Great British Drawings in particular contains some fascinating work. Having been round both exhibitions and nigh-on bankrupted ourselves in the bookshop, we still had a little time to spare before lunch so we went in search of the Alfred Jewel.

This little artefact, which is about a thumb's length tall, consists of a cloisonné image of a man, set behind a polished piece of rock crystal and enclosed in a gold setting. Around the edge is the inscription AELFRED MEC HEHT GEWYRCAN, which translates as "Alfred ordered me made". There's still some debate about the purpose of the Jewel, but the general consensus seems to be that it was the handle of a pointer which was used to guide the reader through a text, and that the Alfred who caused it to be made was Alfred the Great, the Anglo-Saxon King of Wessex from 871-899 A.D. Alfred had a passion for education, and believing that the books he considered to be the essential works of Christian wisdom should be available in English he instigated a programme of translation of these texts from the Latin; it's believed that he even translated some personally, including Pope Gregory the Great's Pastoral Care  (a handbook for priests), and that a copy of this translation was sent, with a pointer, to every bishopric in his kingdom.

If this is true, there may still be a number of near-identical jewels waiting to be discovered - but for now this one is unique, though smaller ones from the same period have been found (including one from Bidford-on-Avon, just down the road from here, which is charmingly known as the Bidford Bobble). The Alfred Jewel was unearthed in 1693 in North Petherton in Somerset, which is just a few miles from Athelney where Alfred the Great founded a monastery.

It's a beautiful object, and I'm just sorry that I didn't get a better photo of it. I'll confess now that I wasn't actually sure that photography was allowed in the Ashmolean - most English galleries and museums seem to forbid it - but having looked around the room I couldn't see any signs, so I quickly got the camera out of my bag and took a couple of shots. As we were leaving I felt compelled to go to the reception desk to ask if I'd broken any rules, and was told that non-flash photography is allowed, except in particular areas which are signed. Had I known, I would have taken more time setting up this photo - but it's still nice to have it as an illustration of a Good Day Out.

The second shot today is of a busker outside St Michael at the North Gate. My musical correspondent (who did give him some money), says that he was playing an interesting arrangement of Here Comes the Sun,  in an unusual key. "Interesting" and "unusual" aren't necessarily words that you want to hear in the same sentence as "music", but in this case it's OK - he was pretty good.

Oh - one last thing, then I really must dash. We had lunch at Browns, where they're still serving the salted caramel profiteroles which attracted some comment on my last Oxford blip. For those of you who found the notion tempting: CH tried them today, and pronounced them to be "the pudding of puddings".  :-)