ABSTRACT
This carved stone relief set above an inscription on an accompanying panel is one of the few remnants visible in today’s London from the culture of signs that once formed an essential part of the syntax of the early modern streetscape. The much decayed tableau depicts a naked boy seated on a pannier holding a bunch of grapes between hand and foot – although other identifications have been suggested for both pannier (woolsack, barrel) and grapes (bread). The inscription carved in capitals includes no direct comment on the image but addresses the streetgoer with a locational commentary: WHEN YV HAVE SOVGHT/ THE CITTY ROVND / YET STILL THIS IS / THE HIGHST GROVND/ AVGVST THE 27/ 1688. Situated just north of St Paul’s, in Panyer Alley, the sign is mounted onto the external wall of a modern building (now a coffee-shop), where it was placed by the Corporation of London in 1964.
