St John the Baptist

Like A.61-1949, a similar ivory relief of St Sebastian, this piece is described in Museum records as Spanish or Portuguese, although it is difficult to make a more precise attribution.

Iconographically they do not belong together (a New Testament Saint and a martyr Saint), and the frames differ from one another in certain details. The slightly differing sizes of the frames, as well as the irregularity of the sizes of the lozenges within each may indicate that they were made at a later date. The two figures may however have been carved in the same workshop.