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Description: | A worn and incomplete cast copper-alloy hooked plate from a post-medieval sword-belt fitting. Overall, these strap-fittings tend to consist of a mount with three suspension loops from which hang a trio of hooked plates; the scabbard straps would have been attached to these plates. The ensemble features foliate decoration on their visible faces: an illustration of a complete sword-belt fitting can be found in Read (2001, 43; ref. 373).
This single hooked plate is missing the terminal to its hook, but otherwise survives well. It is sub-triangular in plan and very slightly convex with a flat back. It has been bent at the set of side protrusions below the hook; viewed in profile one can see that the hook end curves behind the main plate such that the top of the hook is roughly central to the plate. The hook end appears to be slightly cabled. From the hook (W.: 4.95mm) the plate flares out to a width of 15.6mm after 17.4mm. Aligned with the base of these side protrusions is an off-centre circular rivet perforation, which on the lower surface is surrounded by a recess; the rivet is missing. Below, the object narrows to a waist 9.1mm wide beyond these protrusions, before widening again to 17.4mm, 15.8mm from the terminal. Below these latter, asymmetrical protrusions, and above the trefoil terminal, is another waist at which the plate narrows to 10.6mm. Centrally aligned with the beginning of the trefoil is a second circular perforation surrounded by traces of iron corrosion product on both surfaces, and the remnants of the rivet; again the hole is recessed on the back face. As implied above, the reverse is plain; the front, visible, face features an elaborate scrolled foliage pattern, split down the vertical axis, with incised fronds trailing towards the edges and punched annulets. The object now has a largely mid-green patina with slight traces of red-brown and orange (the latter from the corroded iron rivets).
Such fittings 'proliferate in the 16th and 17th centuries' (Geake 2001, 35). Their design and decoration are relatively standardised, as can be seen in those recorded on this database, including this Hampshire example: " HAMP-3DF447 . | 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: | 1500
1700 | 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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