|
Date: |
|
Description: | Gilded copper-alloy medieval harness pendant. Mass: 7.5g; length: 43.8mm; width: 39.5mm; thickness (excluding suspension loop): 1.1mm. The pendant is incomplete, but sub-circular in plan, with a central circular perforation and the broken stub of a suspension loop at the top. In profile the projection expands away from the disc.On the front of the pendant there are three parallel lines of partition with recessed octofoils in-between. Gilding remains on these lines of partition (each being a zig-zag line between two vertical lines) and also within the stamped octofoils. But gilding is also evident in the field on the front of the pendant and on the front and sides of the stub of the suspension loop. The reverse appears to be plain with no traces of gilding. Where the gilding is absent, the pendant has a pitted brown and green surface.The pendant fits into the earlier group of horse harness pendants defined by Ashley in "Medieval Armorial Horse Harness Furniture in Norfolk", 2002, p.5. There is usually an absence of cast decoration and enamelling, and a general thinness of these pendants (ibid.). This group of mounts possibly dates to the second quarter of the twelfth to the third quarter of the thirteenth century (ibid.).A very similar but complete harness pendant is illustrated in "The Searcher price guide", November 1995. Similar decoration is also seen on other harness pendants recorded on the PAS database: SUR-FFF6A7, from Banstead, Surrey; SUR-E58FA5, from Chertsey, Surrey, and SUR-FA6293, from Houghton, West Sussex.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.
Original Image | Publisher: | http://finds.org.uk | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Identifier: | http://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/r... | Go to resource |
|
More Like this...
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
PENDANT
An incomplete cast copper alloy…
-
|