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Description: | A complete cast and enamelled gilt copper alloy quatrefoil harness pendant bearing a reclining lion in white enamel below a three branched tree. This heraldic charge is known in heraldic terminology as 'Or, a three-branched tree surmounted by a lion couchant, Argent'. sub-circular suspension loop clogged with iron corrosion deposits from an iron axial bar that has corroded away. The face bears traces of gilding in the engraved foliage and a spot near the junction with the suspension loop, showing that once the entire pendant was gilded. The perimeter is incised with a line that follows the edge of the pendant creating a frame. The reverse is plain, also with traces of gilding.The lion is of white enamel, now discoloured grey/cream. The lion reclines with its head raised, its long fore & hind legs and tail stretched out below. The eye is indicated by a small void in the enamel of the head. The mane is indicated at the top of the head but not at the neck; in fact the head and body are voided at the neck, a simple means of indicating a gold collar, perhaps? The mass of the upper hind leg is indicated by a curvacious linear void. The fur at the back of the legs is indicated as are the paws and the clump of fur at the end of the tail. The 'three-branched tree' is indicated by means of engraved foliage below and around the lion and three lanceolate fronds above.The appearance of the lion is elegant and detailed; a high quality production. An almost identical pendant of the same quality and almost certainly from the same workshop was found recently in North Essex and identified (and compared) on the UKDN forum in 2004/5. This pendant has not been recorded here, so far as I know.The pendant is in very good condition. It is unusual for these pendants to survive so well as they were made of copper or a copper alloy, which tends to corrode readily in soil. The copper alloy used would have needed to have a higher melting point than the enamel that was fused to it and so it would have been of a particular constitution judged to be just right for the enamelling process. It is true to say the vast majority of medieval harness pendants found in this country tend to be badly corroded when compared to other medieval items of differing alloys found in the same general locality. | Publisher: | http://finds.org.uk | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Identifier: | http://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/r... | Go to resource |
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