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Description: | A copper alloy shield shaped horse harness pendant from the medieval period. The pendant has a pointed base and curved sides with a flat top. It is 33.74mm long and 21.7mm wide. The shield is 2.4mm thick and weighs 6.4 grams. It is decorated with a lion with all four paws in the air, signifying a rampant form. The rampant lion is one of the most common heraldic devices and could belong to a wide variety of families. There are traces of red enamel within the lines of the lion. There is a projecting broken lug on the top of the shield in the centre with, what would be, a circular hole through it from side to side. The metal is dark brown in colour with areas of rich dark green, almost blue, corrosion. Similar heraldic horse harness pendants can be seen in Saunders (ed.) 'Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum Medieval Catalogue Part 1' (Cherry 1991, fig.1). Harness pendants are generally dated from the twelfth to the fourteenth century, with circular and openwork examples predominating the twelfth century, more varied types in the thirteenth and fourteenth century including the enamelled and heraldic types more commonly. The presence of red within the rampant lion could possibly represent the "Or a lion rampant gules" coat, which could be the arms of the Earls of Arundel, as noted in 'Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum Medieval Catalogue Part 1' (Cherry 1991, p.21).
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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