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Description: | Incomplete Medieval copper alloy gilt horse harness suspension-mount, very corroded, flat-sectioned horizontal bar with central perforation and perforated oval terminals with engraved foliate decoration (one broken across perforation), twin suspension-loops with corroded remains of iron pin, 47 (reconstructed) x 26mm. 12th century. This fragment was found by J. Gibbons in January 2004.
A second piece of the same Medieval gilt copper alloy horse harness pendant, slightly bent and broken, was found by N. Abrams in September 2004. The fragment was cruciform with a central disc with rectangular arms ending in circular terminals, lower arm missing, iron corrosion from pin in suspension-loop. Engraved and stamped decoration comprises rocker-arm lines defining an octofoil on a pelleted field on the central disc, and pairs of addorsed birds (almost camouflaged as leaves) flanking the central stem of an elaborate symmetrical foil on a pelleted field on each surviving terminal. 65 (reconstructed) x 63mm. Late 12th??early 13th century.
In Spring 2006 Jason Gibbons visited the site again, and found the lower arm of the pendant, complete with bird and foliate decorated circular terminal.
??The motif of pairs of animals, confronted or addorsed can be traced back at least as far as the Bayeux Tapestry, and was probably inspired both by eleventh-century English manuscript illustration and by woven silks imported from Persia and Byzantium. An example of one such silk which dates to the middle of the eleventh century, and which has paired birds, lions and griffins, was discovered in the tomb of Edward the Confessor?? Ashley (2002), 29. | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Creator: | Bales, Ellen - Norfolk Museums and Archaeology Service | Identifier: | http://www.findsdatabase.org.uk/hms/pas_... | Language: | en-GB | Go to resource |
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