VI.1919.07 — The Schism Vessel

Vessel of heptagonal section, ebonised wood with stone-effect lacquer, the borders and devices inlaid in gold; the seven faces engraved with interlaced triangular figures within titled borders. 340 × 320 × 190 mm. English, probably London work, c. 1850–1880, incorporating (by the Order's account) an earlier core.

Provenance: First securely recorded in an Order inventory of 1871 as “the Vessel of the Schism”; the 1919 Deposit.

A museum case holding a black heptagonal vessel with gold-inlaid borders, a clasped blackened register, and two engraved stone tablets. — The principal case of the 1919 Deposit: VI.1919.07 centre, with VI.1919.01 and VI.1919.22–23.

A grey engineering sheet titled The Schism Vessel: Master Construction Schematic, dated 1784: geometric derivation of the heptagon, an isometric of the vessel with gold inlay indicated, dimensioned profiles, and a correlation map panel. — Master construction schematic: a recent study by an academic correspondent, setting out the Vessel's geometry and inlay scheme in the Order's own drafting conventions. Reproduced by permission.

The ebonised heptagonal vessel on a black velvet plinth in a dim gallery, one engraved face catching the light, the large front face polished blank. — VI.1919.07 as presently exhibited. The principal face is uninlaid and polished; visitors who report seeing movement in it are reporting, the Institute is satisfied, the gallery's own lighting.

An examination table laid out with the vessel, its documentation, blueprints, sepia photographs, engraved discs, white gloves, and papers headed Vaughan Inst. de Schismate, under two examination lamps. — Materials assembled for the comparative analysis undertaken with our colleagues of the Institut Auerbach für Vergleichende Symbolik, Vienna. The working labels are the Auerbach's own protocol; the Institute's numeration was restored on the objects' return, together with the objects, which the Keeper counts the study's principal success.

The vessel upright on a glass stage in a photographic laboratory, a measurement scale beside it, structured-light cameras trained on it and a wireframe model forming on a monitor beyond. — Structural photography for the digitisation programme, archival ref. 77-A — the record from which the interactive object record below derives. The scale is the photographer's habit; the file records no measurement the catalogue did not already hold.

Note. The geometry of the seven-sided figure corresponds to that of Dr John Dee's Sigillum Dei Aemeth, of which wax exemplars survive in the British Museum; the Order's documents make much of the correspondence, the Institute rather less. The vessel is closed. It does not open by any means so far attempted, and the Trustees long ago declined to permit means that would be final. An interactive object record is provided; researchers who believe they have understood the mechanism are asked to notify the Keeper.

See now the Keeper's paper on the Trustees' minute of 1931, Cygnus n.s. 60.

Interactive object record

The record is being prepared…

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Interactive record. Raking light: . The Trustees ask that researchers who believe they have understood the mechanism notify the Keeper.