Provenance
Peter Levi, Oxford; Private collection UK
Exhibitions
Cardiff, National Museum of Wales, David Jones;
London, Tate Gallery, David Jones, 21 July - 6 September 1981, no. 168 (illustrated)
Note: A colour reproduction of this work was made by the Curwen Press.
Literature
This inscription was made for the ordination of Peter Levi (1931-2000) who was Professor of Poetry at the University of Oxford (1984-89), a poet, Jesuit priest, archaeologist, travel writer, biographer, scholar and prolific reviewer and critic. It is therefore about the Mass and includes phrases from the Canon and the rubrics of the Mass. It may be translated 'with extended hands he proceeds with these (offerings) which You vouchsafe to accept as (You accepted) that which was offered to You by Your high priest Melchizedek; gifts of the god of wine (liber) and the spirit of water (Naiades) poured out of the corn goddess (Ceres); broken in an effective recalling of Him who freed the waters and established Your greatest sacrament in the substance of water'. This is one of the three last inscriptions made by David Jones.
POA