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Description: | A complete cast copper alloy heraldic horse harness pendant with enamel, dating from the 13th/ 14th century, between AD 1250 - 1350 (length: 29mm; width: 17mm; thickness at suspension loop: 5.5mm; weight: 4.49g).The pendant is shield shaped in plan [Type I, as classified by Ward Perkins, J, B, 1940, 'London Museum Medieval Catalogue', page 118, fig 38] and flat in side section. At the top of the artefact, there is a complete and integral sub-circular suspension loop (length: 8mm; width: 3mm; thickness/ depth: 5.5mm) set at a 90° angle to the main body of the pendant. The hole in the centre of the suspension loop is not visible due to the presence of iron corrosion, probably from the iron pin or rivet that would have attached the artefact to the horse's leather reins or additional horse harness fitting. The front of the pendant is decorated with a criss-crossed 'gules fretty', with four complete red-enamelled lozenge cells (length: 5.5mm; width: 6mm), as well as seven incomplete cells around the pendant's outside edge, which also still have red enamel remaining in them. Each of these cells is separated by a criss-crossing border (thickness: 1.5mm), which may have been gilt or silvered (although no evidence of this remains). There is no decoration on the flat back of the artefact. Overall, the pendant is in a slightly worn but fair condition with a dark green patina.Irene Syzmanski has suggested that it is most likely this pendant (if the pendant was gilded in the criss-cross decoration) may have been the Audley heraldic design, although there are three possibilities to whom it may have belonged to:• Hugh de Audley of Stratton Audley, Oxfordshire and of Eastington, Gloucestershire (d. AD 1325).• Nicholas de Audley, who held lands in Cheshire, Staffordshire and Salop (d. AD 1299).• William de Audley of Audley, Staffordshire, who also held lands in Staffordshire and Salop (d. AD 1282).However, if the pendant was silvered and not gilt in this area, it would probably refer to the Huddleston family, who held land in Lancashire, Cumbria and Yorkshire.Thank you to Ms Irene Syzmanski in helping with this identification and record.
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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