TOWER CHAPEL OF ST JOHN THE BAPTIST

The bosses were repainted c.1970: no conservation record exists. Cave’s photographs have been used wherever possible. For the dating of these bosses see heading for the Chapel of St Paul 142A-156A.

BOSSES 157A-171A

157A		Two lions.
157		Foliage and fruit.
158		Crucifixion.
159A		Foliage.
159		St Paul or St Matthew, trampling on a crouching half-naked figure. St Paul is suggested by the shape of the head and the forehead curl; his sword is untypically sheathed and laced, but then so it is on the West Front. If this is Paul, the figure beneath might be The Flesh (as in I Cor. ix 27) rather than the expected Emperor Nero who would be crowned, as on boss 143, but we find no iconographic precedent for this. St Matthew is suggested by the book and sheathed sword which are his normal attributes, as well as by the fact that the trampled figure’s appearance suggests Hyrtacus of Ethiopia, under whom Matthew was martyred.
160		Christ Displaying His Wounds. The demi-figure is supported by two others, one bearded, one possibly female, wearing a longer tunic. Neither is winged. Just possibly this scene shows representatives of mankind offering a symbol of the Eucharist. Prideaux and Shafto suggest that this curious group is The Transfiguration:117 not only is this very rare in English art, it is also impossible in view of the wounds.
161		Foliage and flowers.
162		Identification hitherto has simply beenThe Virgin and Child. Cave says that Mary holds a fruit,118 Prideaux and Shafto mention a book.119 They all saw these bosses before repainting. The object held is rounded: fruit and breast are both iconographically possible, but repainting is now too thick to see whether or not a breast, if such it is, is exposed. The child twists away in what might be a gesture of rejection, suggesting The Infant Nicholas Refusing the Breast. If Schiller and Kirschbaum were correct, this would be an early example of Virgo Lactans;120 according to Kirschbaum the Nicholas scene is likelier at this date—but Nicholas’s mother would not be crowned.121
162A		Foliage: two long leaves.
163		Vine.
164		Foliage.
165		Foliage in an elongated curl.
166		St John the Baptist (very ill-proportioned): his missing index finger would have pointed to the Lamb (Ecce agnus dei).
167A		Two dragons.
167		Five-lobed foliage.
168		Oak.
169		Rose.
170		Vine.
170A		Foliage.
171		Dragon and lion fighting.
171A		Foliage.

LABEL-STOPS

These are at the entrance to the Chapel.

North and south sides have beardless heads: that on the north side is hooded.

The building sequence continues with the small western bay of the Choir, bosses 116-121 (under which area are also listed the Crossing corbels H’, H, J’, J, and their associated vaulting-shaft capitals): see heading for 172-193.