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Description: | Possible copper alloy sword guard or 'quillon'. This quillon has broken into two parts and consists of two, long necked dogs heads looking away from each other. One section of the quillon is 65.8mm long, 30.08mm being the dog's head, and weighs 50.03g. This dog's head is in the 'Romanesque' style and is 13.14mm wide. The snout is suboval in plan and is decorated with five raised 'V' shaped lines that diminish towards the open mouthed end. Within the parted mouth of the dog is an integrally moulded globule. The eyes of the dog are forward facing and are simple raised lentoid shapes, above which are incised eyebrows. The ears are suboval and stand vertically to either side of the head. Incised lines crudely render the inner folds of the ear. An incised line also runs around the outer edge of the ears, up and over the top of the head. To the underside of the snout on the dog's throat is a deeply incised 'V', with the pointed end towards the open mouth. The neck of the dog is integrally moulded and tapers away from the head, before flaring into the body of the animal, which is 17mm wide. The body represents only the chest, with two moulded front legs. The animal is depicted lying down, with faint incised lines depicting the claws. The quillon has broken at the point of the slot, so this portion has two small 'tangs' that would have formed the sides of the slot. This portion of the object survives in good condition with an even dark green patina and fairly smooth surface. The other portion of the quillon is 80.06mm long, 28.68mm being the dog's head, which is 14.02mm wide, and weighs 58.75g.It takes the same form of the other dog, but is not identical. The eyes and head decoration are the same, though there is a double incised line running around the outside of the ears. There is the same 'V' shape on the underside of the snout. Again the neck tapers and flares into the body of the animal, which is 16.54mm wide and is in the same lying down position. This portion has larger 'tangs' where the object has broken at its slot, but they do not neatly abutt the other side. This suggests that another portion of the slot sides may be missing. This would make sense, as at a current 20mm, this would make the slot seem too small for the blade, and it seems reasonable that a missing portion would extend the size of the slot to accommodate this. This portion of the quillon was found at a different location and date to its opposite side. It has clearly been in a more harsh environment as the patina is a lighter green, with the surface of the object being worn and pitted, with some flashes of light green and reddy brown corrosion. As no parallel could be found for this object, opinions were sought from the Royal Armouries, Leeds, and the Museum of London. John Clark of the Museum of London comments that dagger guards of a similar nature are much later in date than the Romanesque art form, usually associated with the 12th century, suggests. They are also much smaller. He acknowledges that a sword guard might be possible, but has not seen a parallel. However this opinion is cautious because on most sword quillons there is a narrow slot on the underside into which the top of the blade fits, so it represents the full width of the blade. This example narrows to a rather fatter rectangular slot on the topside, the width of the tang, which on early swords is quite broad. Philip Lankester of the Royal Armouries does not think this need preclude it being a sword quillon, as this form of slot is not universal. Again he has not seen a parallel, though he knows of one sword with beast head terminals in a private collection (image unavailable). He suggests that the dog motif maybe associated with hunting, or possibly part of a ceremonial sword, though the 'quillons' are rather crude. Despite the Romanesque art style, the concluding opinion is that these objects date from the 17th century. Without a parallel, they represent interesting and unusual objects, and one that will hopefully inform future identifications should similar objects be discovered. It must be stated however, that the possibility that these are not part of a sword guard remains.
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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