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Description: | Silver-gilt bell, hemispherical, delicately made of silver-gilt sheet, engraved with panels of flower sprays and remains of attachment loop at the top. At the edge, inscription in Roman capitals with traces of white enamel and foliate sprays, reading in French POUR*UNE*SEULE ("for one alone.")Possibly a hawking bell, of the kind attached to the silk jesses tied on the hawk's legs. A pair of bells were used, making a shrill sound a semitone apart from each other. They were often made in Milan or Dordrecht. Silver added to the metal made for a sweet tone, echoed in Shakespeare's "How silver -sweet sound lovers 's tongues by night", see J. Strutt, Sports and Past-times of the People of England, 1801, p. 26. For earlier medieval types excavated in Austria see Konrad Spindler, Falknerei in Archäologie und Geschichte, Tyrol 1998.The chivalric and amorous nature of the inscription suggests a late medieval date, though similar phrases are found on 16th Century posy rings in French and Italian. Probably 15th-16th Century. Perhaps for a female owner given the nature of the inscription.
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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