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Description: | Fragment of a crescentic fitting made from copper-alloy sheet, richly decorated on one side and plain on the other, pierced and with a twisted and broken extension at the centre back of the crescent. At this point the band of the crescent is 13.5mm broad and 1mm thick, and has a circular piercing in the plate. To either side of this the ornament is empanelled, and shows angled parallel banding of beaded lines formed with a roulette or tool with tiny triangular punch-heads. This patterning alternates in a chevron-like manner to create triangular spaces filled with parallel banding. The surviving arm of the crescent is now bent, but was formerly 53mm long from the pierced centrepoint. The other arm is partly broken away. The surviving arms shows an indented outline on the convex edge, and a detailing of the shape of the arm-tip, which suggests this is meant for an animal's head, but very abstracted in design. Two colleagues of this recorder's consider that it represents a chicken, though some may not wish to accept this. The object bears a distinct green patination. The identification is not certain, but the twisted attachment suggests a lug and this would effectively result in the object hanging with the arms of the crescent facing downwards.Steven Ashley has seen the images of this object and agrees that it is likely to be a horse-harness pendant of relatively early date; the object has been drawn upside down. The motif of double rows of tiny triangular punchmarks is called by him 'interrupted rocker-arm' and the theory is that a two-pronged engraving tool is used, leaving a clear space in between the two marks. This technique is most commonly found on 13th-century mirror-cases, but can be found earlier (perhaps on the rather worn 11th-century stirrup-strap mount NARC-3B2C14). The shape of the pendant suggests a 12th-century date.
Original Image | Publisher: | http://finds.org.uk | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Identifier: | http://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/r... | Go to resource |
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