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Description: | A largely complete cast copper alloy suspension mount. This is a medieval harness fitting from which a pendant would have been suspended. This mount consists of a quatrefoil shaped central boss with two horizontal arms, a third arm projecting upwards, and a shorter stub facing downwards with two lugs. A pendant would have been suspended by a pin through the lugs. The pin was usually made of iron (Griffiths, 2004, p 62). Both of the lugs are incomplete, but their surface condition suggests that the breaks are not recent. The three arms each have a circular incision towards the terminals. There is the remains of an iron rivet in the upwards projecting arm. The arms trace the rounded profile of the rivet fittings and terminate with narrow projections with rounded ends. When the mount is viewed in profile, the horizontal arms curve backwards, but the vertical arm and stub are broadly straight. The quatrefoil shaped boss is decorated with four annular designs in green enamel, although not all are complete. In the centre of this is a design, also in green enamel, consisting of four concave sides with a circular central area in which there is no enamel. There is the remains of two transverse ribs, possibly enamel on the stub above the lugs. The rear of the mount, which would have been flush to the harness straps to which it was attached, is undecorated. The body of one of the three rivets remains, protruding from the rear of the mount. These rivets would have attached the suspension mount to the harness straps.The suspension mount has a dark green/brown slightly pitted surface. The mount is 51.8mm wide, 46.2mm long, with a maximum thickness of metal of 2.8mm. The mount has a mass of 10.4g. This is a cruciform mount which Griffiths (ibid, p69) explains as a variant of the horizontal bar mount, in which a third arm projects upwards. He suggests that such suspension mounts were fitted where two straps met at right angles. Based on the large number of pendants more recently available for study, Griffiths (1986, cited in Griffiths, 2004, p62) states that horse harnesses appear to have been decorated with copper alloy pendants from the 12th century onwards, becoming more numerous in the 13th century, but by the end of the 14th century, pendants were in decline with fashions changing to decorative leather or fabric trappings. Griffiths (ibid. p 62) also states that there is no correlation between type of pendant and the suspension mount used.
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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