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Description: | Enamelled, shield-shaped horse harness pendant. Type I (Ward Perkins 1940, 118, fig.38). The pendant is cast in copper alloy (probably bronze) with an integral suspension loop, which is now slightly bent. It is decorated with a heraldic device made up of three chevrons. Although ancient enamels can change their colour as a consequence of burial, microscopic study suggests that the recessed chevrons may have originally been decorated with red enamel. The pendant is corroded and its sinister side is damaged. Height 43mm, width 27mm, thickness 2mm. The study of medieval manuscript illustrations suggests that the pendants were hung from the breast-band, and occasionally the rear strap and brow-band, of a horse's harness (Griffiths 1986,1).The pendants were usually suspended by an iron pin passing through the integral loop from rectangular or circular mounts, distinguished by double loops, which were in turn riveted to the leather harness (Griffiths 1986, 2). Dating of harness pendants is difficult because of the lack of known, well-stratified examples (Griffiths 1995, 61); however, the majority of shield-shaped pendants probably date from the second half of the thirteenth century to the end of the fourteenth century AD (Griffiths 1986, 1; Griffiths 1995, 62). This date mirrors that of the increasing use of heraldry in the decorative arts throughout the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries (Griffiths 1989,1) and such a date would not be inappropriate for this example. Although shield-shaped pendants frequently contain heraldic devices, they were not exclusively made for display on the horses of the nobility; most were probably trappings for the horses of retainers, bailiffs, stewards and the like and conveyed a general sense of belonging to an estate or manor (Griffiths 1986, 1). | Publisher: | http://finds.org.uk | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Identifier: | http://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/r... | Go to resource |
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