13th-15th century AD. A carved sandstone grotesque architectural head with comma-shaped ears or horns on the brow, deep-set almond-shaped eyes with voided pupils, squat nose with flared nostrils, broad mouth with thickened lower lip and protruding tongue; unworked to the reverse. 9.1 kg, 25cm (9 3/4"). Property of a Cambridgeshire gentleman since 1990; previously in a private collection formed in the 1980s. The figure is a 'grotesque', similar in appearance to a gargoyle but not pierced to allow drainage of water. Such motifs were used to decorate the exterior walls of churches where they served to remind the illiterate congregation of the dangers of sin and the terrors of Hell which awaited those who committed it.