Eric Gill A.R.A. - a Hopton Wood stone rectangular devotional panel, carved in the Ditchling workshop, incised in red lettering with 'It lasteth and forever shall for God loveth it', height 19.5cm, length 48cm, depth 4cm. Note: this inscription relates to the 14th/15th century English mystic Julian of Norwich. She was an anchoress at the Church of St. Julian in Norwich and encountered Christ in a series of revelations or visions while desperately ill, which she later recorded. This quote comes from these revelations of divine love relating to Jesus Christ: 'And in this he showed me a little thing, the quantity of a hazel nut, lying in the palm of my hand, as it seemed. And it was as round as any ball. I looked upon it with the eye of my understanding, and thought, 'What may this be?' And it was answered generally thus, 'It is all that is made.' I marvelled how it might last, for I thought it might suddenly have fallen to nothing for littleness. And I was answered in my understanding: It lasts and ever shall, for God loves it. And so have all things their beginning by the love of God.' A smaller exhibition piece with the same inscription is recorded in 'Eric Gill, The Inscriptions' by David Peace, no. 341. Provenance: removed from Woodbarton, Ditchling, East Sussex, the house designed by Eric Gill for his associate Desmond Chute.