This intaglio of green jasper was excavated in 2001 at Oram's Arbour, Winchester, Hampshire, England by Winchester Museums Service. Measuring 14 mm x 16.5 mm and 3 mm thick the intaglio depicts a warrior on horseback spearing a serpent or dragon. A parallel has been drawn to a carved stone relief from Kyiv (Kiev), Ukraine dating to the mid eleventh century. Although there was a chapel of St George in Winchester in the late Saxon period the cult of St George did not take of until after the Norman Conquest in 1066. Either way, this makes this intaglio a very early reference to St George in England.
Saint George is the patron saint of a number of countries including England, where his feast day is celebrated on the 23rd April. According to tradition George was a soldier in the Roman army and a member of the Diocletian's Praetorian Guard. He was sentenced to death in AD 303 for refusing to recant his Christian faith.
This stair newel depicting St George from the now demolished George Hotel can be seen in the Winchester City Museum, The Square, Winchester.
