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Description: | A worn cast copper-alloy fragment, probably from a medieval pilgrim's souvenir. The fragment is now sub-rectangular, although it has suffered from old damage which takes the form of breaks along both narrower edges. The decoration is bifacial and consists of a central linear depression out of which emerge shallower linear incisions at right angles. The edges are toothed. Such decoration is perhaps representative of comb of St Blaise, who had a shrine at Canterbury (Spencer 1998, 178). St Blaise is thought to be a bishop in Asia Minor who was martyred in the early fourth century. He was allegedly tortured with iron combs prior to being beheaded. Later he became the patron of woolcombers, although the two-sided comb that this might represent was a liturgical comb rather than a woolcomber's comb. The shape is also reminiscent of the ostrich-feather, the emblem of the Black Prince (Edward, Prince of Wales (1330 - 1376), son of Edward III and father of Richard II). The object is orange-brown in colour, with areas of green corrosion product under which appear to be traces of gilding. | Format: | text/html | License: | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ | Publisher: | The Portable Antiquities Scheme | Rights holder: | The Portable Antiquities Scheme | Subjects: | archaeology | Temporal: | 1300
1500 | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Creator: | Robert Webley | Identifier: | http://www.finds.org.uk/database/artefac... | Language: | en-GB | Format: | text/html | Go to resource |
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