VI.1919.22–23 — The Tablets of the Watch (two of three)

Pair of rectangular tablets, black stone with gold-filled engraving, composite Solomonic figures within lettered borders. Each c. 300 × 240 × 15 mm. English, c. 1850–1890.

Provenance: The 1919 Deposit. The Deposit inventory records three tablets; two were received. The solicitor's covering letter states the number delivered as “as found.” The third (VI.1919.24) has not been traced.

Two rectangular black stone tablets, engraved in gold with concentric Solomonic figures, upright on stands in a glass case. — The case retains a label earlier than the 1978 re-accessioning; its dating is not the Institute's.

Note. The Order's documents assign the Tablets to “the Watch” — apparently a vigil kept at the quarters of the year — and associate one tablet with each of three “reliefs.” The inscriptions of the two surviving tablets are continuous with one another and plainly incomplete.