Three Coats of Arms of Sir Hugh Wake over a Royal Fatimid Inscription
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.To the victor go the spoils. This large slab of white marble was a prize won in battle. It had first been used to record the building of a tower in Ascalon during the reign of the Fatimid caliph al-Zafir (1149–1154). The city’s defenses were inadequate against the attacks of Crusaders, among them Englishman Sir Hugh Wake (died 1241). For Sir Hugh’s purposes, a mason turned the inscription on its side and cut through it, superimposing the Englishman’s coats of arms and two smaller, unidentified ones. The intended use is unknown, but the message concerning who is in charge is clear. The memories of both the tower and the knight were revived when this slab was excavated in Ascalon several decades ago.
Artwork Details
- Title: Three Coats of Arms of Sir Hugh Wake over a Royal Fatimid Inscription
- Date: 1150 and 1241
- Geography: Made in Ascalon
- Medium: Marble, carved and painted
- Dimensions: 24 3/4 × 58 5/8 × 2 7/8 in. (62.9 × 148.9 × 7.3 cm)
- Classification: Sculpture-Stone
- Credit Line: Courtesy of the Israel Antiquities Authority, exhibited at the Israel Museum, Jerusalem (IAA 195-3731)
- Curatorial Department: Medieval Art and The Cloisters