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Description: | A cast copper alloy horse harness pendant of probable fourteenth century date. The shield shaped pendant measures 33mm by 20.9mm by 2.2mm and weighs 5.42g. At the upper end of the shield is a broken suspension loop which is turned through ninety degrees. On the front of the pendant there is an enamelled depiction of a peacock with red beak, feet and wings, three brown plumes behind the head, a blue body and blue tails feathers on which there are three white patches presumably intended to represent 'eyes'. A similar pendant from south-east Dorset is illustrated in Read's 'Metal Artefacts of Antiquity' (2000, p. 53, fig. 32, no. 413). Nick Griffiths (pers comm.) comments that this is not a heraldic pendant, but because the peacock was a symbol of wealth and pride in the Middle Ages it might have belonged to someone without an armorial bearing, but with the wealth to have decorative horse harness.
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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