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Description: | An incomplete copper-alloy medieval harness pendant. Mass: 3.5g; length: 31.7mm; width 21.9mm; measurement from front to reverse: 2.7mm (excluding the suspension loop). The pendant is sub-lozenge shaped in plan, with incomplete edges and an incomplete suspension loop at the top. The suspension loop is turned through 90 degrees to the orientation of the pendant.The front of the harness pendant has an off-white coloured enamelled field, strewn with small fleur-de-lis charges, with a lion rampant filling most of the lozenge. The off-white coloured enamel has become crazed. Only portions of the enamel within the lion rampant and the fleur-de-lis charges remain, and there is a brown coloured surface adhesion on some portions. Otherwise the enamel in the lion rampant and charges appears to be black (sable) in colour. Where the enamel is not present the harness pendant has a brown and green pitted surface. The reverse is undecorated with a brown and green pitted surface.In "the Medieval Horse and its Equipment" (2004, Clarke (ed.)), Griffiths (p62) states that pendants would have been suspended from horse harnesses by means of small mounts riveted to the straps (e.g. see record WMID-91E942, and for a complete mount and pendant, see record SWYOR-17FA58). Based on the large number of pendants more recently available for study, Griffiths (1986, cited in Clarke, 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. From perhaps the second half of the 13th century heraldric designs appear on pendants, with coats of arms depicted with coloured enamels, silvering, and gilding. By the end of the 14th century, pendants were in decline with fashions changing to decorative leather or fabric trappings. Based on this work by Griffith's (1986), it is likely that the pendant described in this record can be dated to circa 1250 - 1400.
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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