Rood screen
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This is one of six preserved fragments of carved stone (probably Bath stone) that was found in a vault by W J Pountney during his excavation of pottery manufacturing remains at the site Chapel of St Anne in the Wood, in 1914. He considered it to be part of the chapel's rood screen (an ornamental partition between the nave and chancel, and which housed a large crucifix - the rood).
Inspection of the surviving fragments reveals a sinuous design that Pountney thought represented the True Vine (a metaphor for the spiritual body of Christ, the holy church, being part of which a person would flourish and be fruitful, but when cut off, would wither and perish - see the gospel of St John chapter 15). And here we can see the vine painted in flesh tones, with traces of blood red where a branch has been pruned by "the gardener" - God. The bloody stump is the flat surface shown at the bottom of the left-hand of the lower photographs.
Photographs exhibited with kind permission of Bristol Museum and Art Gallery, which has this in its collection (reference: Q3947).
Material: stone
Period: Medieval
Find spot: Chapel Way, St Anne's. ST620728
Exhibit contributed by Bristol Museum and Art Gallery
Text written by Ken Taylor (2012)
Photographer: Ken Taylor
Acquisition number: 120322b5