Description
The Alfred Jewel is inscribed "AELFRED MEC HEHT GEWYRCAN", meaning 'Alfred ordered me made'. It is about 21⁄2 inches (6.4 cm) long and was made of filigreed gold, enclosing a highly polished piece of clear quartz 'rock crystal', beneath which is set a cloisonné enamel plaque, with an image of a man, perhaps Christ, with ecclesiastical symbols. The figure "closely resembles the figure of Sight in the Fuller Brooch, but it is most commonly thought to represent Christ as Wisdom or Christ in Majesty". It was at one time attached to a thin rod or stick based on the hollow socket at its base. The back is a flat gold plate engraved with an acanthus-like plant motif.
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“To give an accurate description of what has never occurred is not merely the proper occupation of the historian, but the inalienable privilege of any man of parts and culture.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)
“The next Augustan age will dawn on the other side of the Atlantic. There will, perhaps, be a Thucydides at Boston, a Xenophon at New York, and, in time, a Virgil at Mexico, and a Newton at Peru. At last, some curious traveller from Lima will visit England and give a description of the ruins of St. Paul’s, like the editions of Balbec and Palmyra.”
—Horace Walpole (1717–1797)
“He hath achieved a maid
That paragons description and wild fame;
One that excels the quirks of blazoning pens.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)