Rare 800-year-old figure of Christ to return to York

The rare object, made in Limoges, France, in the 13th century, was found in 1826 in the ruins of St Mary’s Abbey in York.

It disappeared for nearly 100 years before it became part of the private collection of a German art collector in the 1920s.

The gilded and enamelled ornament will now be displayed at the Yorkshire Museum, on the site of the former abbey, after it was bought by the York Museums Trust.

The 16cm figure is believed to have been acquired from Limoges to furnish St Mary’s Abbey, which was newly built in the 13th century and was the richest abbey in the north of England.

It would have been mounted on an enamelled cross and decorated a religious object, such as a manuscript cover or a casket.

The figure is one of few objects to have survived Henry VIII’s brutal dissolution of the monasteries in the 1530s and, although its hands and feet are missing, it is unusual in its completeness, as most examples of Limoges enamelwork are highly fragmentary.

The statue has the remains of enamel decoration, is embellished with stone settings on the crown, eyes and loincloth, and has delicate cast decorations on the crowned head, expressive face, finely streaked hair and beard, torso and elaborately embellished loincloth.

Curator of archeology at York Museums Trust Lucy Creighton with a rare 800-year-old figure of…