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Date: |
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Description: | Body of a lead-alloy ampulla (pilrim's souvenir) dating from the later medieval period, i.e. c. 1350-1550. The ampulla's neck and suspension loops have been torn off and only the main part of the body remains. One side is plain while the other decorated with a moulded scallop shell. The scallop shell looks quite naturalistic and the ampulla could thus be classed as Type 1 (this may not have any bearing on its date, however) (Spencer 1990, 59) "Ampullae or miniature phials were another important kind of pilgrim souvenir. Generally flask-shaped, but with a narrow, flattish section, they were designed to contain a dose of the thaumaturgic water that was dispensed to pilgrims at many shrines and holy wells. Like pilgrim badges, ampullae, too, were normally made of tin or lead or tin-lead alloy and were provided with a pair of handles or loops so that they could be conveniently suspended from a cord or chain around the wearer's neck...The scallop, besides being the badge of St James of Compostela, was the emblem of pilgrimage itself. Canterbury, therefore, took the instantly and universally recognisable scallop-shell as the decoration for the fronts of some of its earlier ampullae, and the same motif was later adopted at other shrines, including, probably, Walsingham, with its well or wells of healing water." (Spencer 1990, 57-59) | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Creator: | Boughton, Dot - Portable Antiquities Scheme | Identifier: | http://www.findsdatabase.org.uk/hms/pas_... | Language: | en-GB | Go to resource |
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