Rare artworks at Norwich display help tell Bayeux Tapestry story

A collection of special objects with connections to scenes in the Bayeux Tapestry is to go on display - aptly in a Norman castle.

Twenty-one items - including a rare silver-gilt reliquary box - have been loaned to Norwich Castle Museum by the Wyvern Collection in London, some of them for the very first time.

"In the Bayeux Tapestry, you see King Harold swearing an oath on reliquaries and we've got a reliquary that is actually from the period," said curator Tim Pestell.

The aim is to "give a sense of how rich and complex the world in which they were made for was", said Dr Susannah Kingwill, director of the Wyvern Research Institute.

Kingwill said the display was "capitalising on the moment of interest that's being garnered by the display of the Bayeux Tapestry at the British Museum" and offered "a very rich picture of the material culture that was in existence in the period of the Norman Conquest".

The exhibition is part of a series of events around Britain to mark the arrival of the Bayeux Tapestry in England.

It tells the story of the Norman Conquest and one of its key moments is when the Anglo-Saxon Harold is supposed to have sworn an oath to help William, Duke of Normandy take the English throne.

To make the oath binding, he is shown placing his hands on two reliquaries - beautifully crafted boxes which would have contained relics of saints.

Instead, Harold claimed the throne, setting the scene for William's invasion.

Five key scenes from the Bayeux Tapestry, and the story they tell

The Norman Conquest transformed England by introducing a new king, a new language, and new forms of art and architecture.

Curator of archaeology Pestell added: "Anglo-Saxon England effectively looks to the northern world; it's an Anglo-Scandinavian population, especially so in East Anglia.

"But after the Norman Conquest, England looks to France and it becomes part of that Norman world, where a whole different artistic repertoire is being used."

An example of this is a 12th Century wooden sculpture of the Virgin Mary.

"The proportions are completely different [from Saxon designs]; they're really long, thin, stretched out figures," he said.

Pestell likened the way it gesticulates with its hands to the story-telling revealed in the tapestry.

He said: "Every scene is linked by people gesturing with their hands, with their faces."

The Wyvern Collection holds about 3,000 objects, but is particularly well known for its collection of sculptures, metalwork objects and ivories from the medieval period.

However, medieval metalwork is less likely to have survived down the centuries, because it could be melted down for reuse, said Kingwill.

So, one of her highlights from the exhibition is a bronze candlestick of a kneeling young man.

She said: "It measures around 13.5cm (5.3in) high and it's just a really extraordinarily beautiful object for something that maybe seems almost commonplace.

"I think it shows the technical skill and ingenuity of the people that were making these items as well."

Other unusual exhibits include the earliest known standing sculpture of the Virgin and Child, made at about the same time as the Battle of Hastings - and a magnificently carved ivory hunting horn.

Another highlight is the Norwich Friends' Tapestry, a 19 metre-long (62ft) embroidery telling the story of two East of England rebellions against William the Conqueror.

Visitors will be able to view rarely seen 19th Century hand-painted plaster cast details from the Bayeux Tapestry from 12 November to 10 January.

The exhibition forms part of the preparations for the European Year of the Normans next year, marking 1,000 years since the birth of William the Conqueror.

It has been supported by the Norwich Freemen's Charity and the British Museum.

Treasures of the Norman world: Loans from the Wyvern Collection is at Norwich Castle Museum and Art Gallery until 7 September 2027.

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