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| Angel Fragment Painted alabaster, carved in England late 15th century Victoria & Albert Museum |
The Victoria & Albert Museum houses many devotional reliefs fashioned from English alabaster. These were produced for export and for local use at Nottingham and London and at other centers with alabaster quarries – until the Protestant Reformation put a stop to the entire industry of religious image-making in England.
A crisply-carved angel with red wings (above) originally occupied the lower right-hand corner of a relief that featured the Assumption of the Virgin. When this Virgin was smashed by enraged Protestants, there happened to be a deft and clever child standing by who was able to grab the angel and slip it into a safe pocket before anyone noticed. And that is why posterity has the chance to look upon it now, despite the best efforts of officious humanity to destroy it.
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| St Stephen with Stones Alabaster, carved in England 15th century Victoria & Albert Museum |
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| St. Barbara Alabaster, carved in England 15th century Victoria & Albert Museum |
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| St. James the Great Alabaster, carved in England 15th century Victoria & Albert Museum |
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| Seven prophets Alabaster, carved in England 15th century Victoria & Albert Museum |
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| A Bishop, with kneeling Donor Alabaster, carved in England 15th century Victoria & Albert Museum |
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| St. Catherine, the Beheading Alabaster, carved in England 15th century Victoria & Albert Museum |
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| St. Peter Receiving Souls Alabaster, carved in England 15th century Victoria & Albert Museum |
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| Assumption of the Virgin Alabaster, carved in England 15th century Victoria & Albert Museum |
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| Coronation of the Virgin Alabaster, carved in England 15th century Victoria & Albert Museum |
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| Coronation of the Virgin Alabaster, carved in England 15th century Victoria & Albert Museum |
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| Coronation of the Virgin Alabaster, carved in England c. 1400 Victoria & Albert Museum |