XXI.—On the sculptured alabaster tablets called Saint John's Heads

Abstract

Scattered up and down England in museums, churches, and private collections, are a number of small sculptured tablets or panels of alabaster, of which the principal feature is a head lying on a dish or charger, generally flanked by figures of saints and sometimes with other accessories.These tablets have been more or less a puzzle to antiquaries for a long time, and various conjectures have been put forward as to the meaning of the subjects represented.