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Description: | Fragment from the marginal fillet inscription to a monumental brass, which has either never been installed or which has been lifted and reused for another purpose. It is broken into two adjoining fragments, which placed together measure 83mm in length and 43mm in width, and a thickness of 2mm. This is an important fragment because it is palimpsest, that it, it shows decorative work for inclusion in a monumental church brass on both sides. One side shows part of two words, the first ending 'lm', with a double-hooked abbreviation mark over the M, and the second beginning 'Ays' with a capital A, which has a trailing foliate leader from the top of the A. The supposed 's' is a long, curling form. These letters are deeply cut, and are neatly placed in the central axis of the plate, showing that they were intended for inclusion in a long inset marginal inscription of the kind which surrounds free-standing figures set into the matrices of brasses throughout the fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries. This inscription may well be fourteenth century. It is noticeable that the 'm', the 'y' and the 'A' have all cut right through the metal. When the plate is turned over, it shows a parallel groove 7mm in from each edge, creating a central zone of 27mm. Between them is shown a series of four quatrefoils arranged as saltires, in a neat row, their crossing points centred 20mm apart. These have been formed by hammering with repeated strikes of a chisel or straight-edged tool driven by a hammer or mallet. The two quatrefoils to the right (overlying the letters lm on the reverse) are complete, or at least firmly struck. The two left hand examples are only partially marked out. The second and fourth have clearly cut through the back of the metal where the letters are cut away on the reverse, and have created holes., From the striking marks of the quatrefoils it is clear that they have never been completed: but it also seems unlikely that, if they were cut first, the letters on the reverse can ever have been used since the metal is pierced. It seems more likely that the lettering, deeply cut, was the original, but for some purpose was not actually used for a momument, and that the quatrefoils represent a secondary attempt to reuse the same piece of metal, which was also abandoned when it was found that the cutting of the quatrefoils opened holes in the metal where the letters appeared on the reverse. So the lettering, probably 14th century, is the first use, for a marginal inscription to a distinguished brass, and the quatrefoils are secondary, presumably either 14th or 15th century and not likely to be later. This is a very interesting palimpsest for the information it offers about working practise in brass-making workshops. Could this item be evidence for the existence of a latten workshop at Battisford?
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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