Images Dated 2019 January

General view of St Piran's Oratory with railings, Perranzabuloe, Cornwall. 1905

A view of the Oratory exposed in the dunes and surrounded by the Victorian railings. Taken before the excavations of 1910. Two men and a woman stand outside the railings and a young woman is seated inside. St Piran's Oratory survives as an early Christian chapel with all four walls standing. It represents the supposed site where St Piran, an Irish saint came ashore and established a Christian centre of worship in the sixth or seventh centuries AD. The site has a documented entry in the Domesday book. There is a small nave, chancel and stone bench around much of the interior plus a cemetery. Situated on Penhale Sands, east of Perranporth, the Oratory has been subject to blown sands over the years. Excavations were carried out in 1835 and 1843 and then railings were erected around the site in the 1890s. In 1910 it was re-excavated and a concrete 'preserving structure' constructed over it. A large number of burials were uncovered during the works. The concrete shell was largely demolished in 1980 and the chapel reburied. The site was re-excavated in 2014-2015. Photographer: Unknown

© From the collection of the RIC

Queen Victoria Jubilee Head Silver Crown, England

The obverse of the silver crown features Queen Victoria's Jubilee portrait, facing left and wearing the small diamond crown, commissioned by her in 1870. VICTORIA D : G : BRITT : REG : F : D appear either side of the portrait with the engraver's initials J.E.B. (Joseph Edgar Boehm, 1834-1890) on the queen's shoulder. The reverse pictures Benedetto Pistrucci's St George on horseback, slaying the dragon, together with the initials B.P. and the year 1890. The jubilee head design was used from 1887, for silver and gold coins only, and was continued until 1893. It was introduced for the golden jubilee (50 years) of Queen Victoria's reign. Royal portraits have been used on English coins for over 1000 years. The British Crown came into circulation in 1707, after the Union of England and Scotland, to replace the English Crown and Scottish Dollar. The value was set at 5 shillings. It measures 38 mm in diameter and weighs around 28 grams

© RIC, photographer Mike Searle

Bronze Incense Burner (Koro), Japan

This incense burner dates from around 1800 and is in the form of a Chinese boy (karako) reading a book. Karako is a Japanese term meaning 'Chinese child'. It generally refers to Chinese children as they are portrayed in Japanese art, though the literal translation specifically references the 'Tang children' of the Tang Dynasty [AD618-907]. The figures usually appear to be boys, wearing sets of conventional Chinese clothing and with their hair shaved and/or knotted in the traditional Tang style of this time. Karako are divine beings in Japanese mythology. They embody the innocence and joy of childhood and, as such, are often portrayed in scenarios where they are playing. Other interpretations find that karako are used to symbolise the wish to have a male successor who will gain high social status and also as a benevolent symbol which brings luck, happiness and prosperity. Gift of Alfred De Pass

© RIC, photographer Mike Searle