This architectural fragment is carved from Caen stone and depicts a feathered griffin-like animal with a large triangular wing and huge talons. The sides of the fragment have been trimmed at a later date, so unfortunately neither head nor wing tips survive. Elements of the carved stone fragment - its style, subject matter and carving technique - suggest a date in the early twelfth century. Canterbury had an impressive and long-standing tradition for sculpture in the later Anglo-Saxon and Norman periods, as evidenced by the stonework in the crypt of the cathedral, dated to c 1100, and stone carvings on the likes of Green Court Gate, within the cathedral precincts. Remains from St Augustine’s Abbey indicate similar motifs were in use there as well. The high-quality tradition for stone carving at Canterbury has associations with the scriptoria at the cathedral and abbey where many of the scribes produced highly imaginative initials and lettering in eleventh- and twelfth-century manuscripts, which were often elaborately decorated with an amazing array of monstrous creatures. The technique of the Whitefriars architectural fragment suggests the sculptor was influenced by such depictions. The griffin is a mythological creature with the body, tail and back legs of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle, sometimes with an eagle’s talons at its front feet. The lion is traditionally considered the king of the beasts and the eagle the king of the birds. A combination of these two formidable creatures made the griffin an especially powerful and majestic creature. Representations of griffin-like creatures appear as early as 3000 BC in both Ancient Egyptian art and in Iranian mythology. Griffin-like creatures appear in Bronze Age art from the Near East and are also depicted in frescoes at the Minoan Palace of Knossos on Crete. Griffin images appear in art of the Achaemenid Persian Empire of the sixth- to fourth-century BC. Depictions of griffins endured into the Middle Ages, and in medieval heraldry the griffin's amalgamation of lion and eagle was used to denote intelligence, strength, military courage and leadership. It appears to have been around the medieval period that the griffin became a Christian symbol of divine power as well as a guardian of the divine. The carved stone fragment was found in primary destruction material located within the original warming room of the friary. Despite its damaged state, the carving is of considerable importance as it indicates the tradition of sculptural production at Canterbury. According to medieval art historian Deborah Kahn, the style of the fragment closely resembles a capital now used as a sundial at Chartham which reputedly originally hailed from Canterbury, although the feathered design is closely related to that of a sculpted fragment from Reading Abbey dated c 1130.