Foliate Heads – Subjects


By far the largest subject category of Canterbury foliate heads was male heads (25 of our selection of 42).  Seven of these are shown above as examples (Images 1 to 7).   Others appear to be of women – it is often hard to be sure (Images 8 to 11).  One in our selection is clearly a lion (Image 12) and the remaining 8 show a variety of fantasy beasts (Images 13 to 20).  The range of expressions across all heads, varying from normality to worried to angry to wild, is striking.

DL