|
Date: |
|
Description: | Medieval water tap; Large, cast copper alloy water spout in an elaborate housing. The tap is of probable 13th or 14th century date. The lower housing is in the form of a human head and there is a long stem coming out of the top of the head. The stem curls over and has a beast??s head at its terminal. There is a circular hole in the mouth of the beast and a corresponding hole in the back, at the base of the neck of the human head. This suggests that the piece has a channel running right through it.
The human head is decorated with a cast nose and eyebrows in high relief. There are also small, horizontal, cast ridges for eyes and the hair is in high relief, having a short, straight fringe and then coming down at the sides of the face and to the nape of the neck. The head also has incised lines to suggest the mouth and chin and to give texture to the hair. The vertical section of the stem is undecorated but where it curves over there are cast ridges suggesting ears. Further towards the end of the stem there are cast eyebrows, eyes and snout with an open mouth.
Length (top of spout to base of human neck) 87.7mm, width (human head) 33.5mm, thickness (front to back of human head) 34.7mm, diameter (stem) 13.0mm, weight 253.1g
Dr Kevin Leahy suggests that this is probably a tap head from a monastic lavatorium, noting that there is no sign of the valve, but this may have been further down the pipe.
Geoff Egan concurs with this identification and confirms that it would probably have come from a high status or religious site, adding that the piece is a high quality import from the Low Countries. He suggests that the top section may have originally turned to block or release the flow of water, depending on its position in relation to the flow hole in the lower section. He also notes that "There is a wide range of high med. taps/spouts, the latest word being from a volume published in Zurich, but the closest item there is a re-publication of an upper, female-headed 'tap handle' part from Lewes Priory, which was first in GC Dunning 1968, (Ants' Jnl. 48, 310-11)." | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Creator: | Rohde, Anja | Identifier: | http://www.findsdatabase.org.uk/hms/pas_... | Language: | en-GB | Go to resource |
|
More Like this...
-
TAP
Medieval water tap; Large, cast…
-
TAP
Incomplete cast copper alloy barrel…
-
TAP
Incomplete cast copper alloy barrel…
-
TAP
Incomplete cast copper alloy barrel…
-
TAP
Incomplete cast copper alloy barrel…
-
Pendant
Cast copper-alloy of probable Medieval…
-
TAP
Incomplete cast copper alloy barrel…
-
TAP
Incomplete cast copper alloy barrel…
-
-
VESSEL
Copper alloy vessel spout. Cast…
|