Crozier of Crmac McCarthy

In the pictureThe upper part of a bishop's crozier stands against a pale apricot background. The crook takes the form of a snake's body covered in blue enamel scales, coiled into a circle, and inside it a figure in a short tunic spears a winged dragon underfoot. The snake's head ends on the inner left of the crook, pointing upward. Below the crook is leafy scroll ornament, and the round knop is ringed with small animal heads and turquoise beads. On the shaft below, plates pierced with gold scrollwork cover a blue ground.

BackgroundThe Met's record dates it "early 20th century (original dated 12th century)" and gives its culture as French; it came in 1908 through the Rogers Fund together with copies of Irish reliquaries. The name comes from a tradition linked to the Irish king Cormac McCarthy, but in form it is a Limoges enamel crozier from France. The Limoges workshops were famous for cutting hollows into a copper base and filling them with vitreous enamel, and a crozier head with a combat scene inside a snake-coiled crook is one of their signature forms. The full length is 134.6 cm, and the photograph shows only the upper part.

Puzzle tipThe blue-scaled crook is the central axis of the picture. Join the curve of the crook first, watching the direction of the diamond grid of the scales, then fit the figure, spear and dragon inside it. Check the orientation so as not to confuse the upward-facing snake head with the dragon head below. The round knop set with turquoise beads becomes a horizontal reference line, and the gold scrollwork pieces of the shaft below can be stacked vertically. Fill the wide apricot background last. 48 pieces work well.