|
Date: |
|
Description: | Medieval or post-Medieval silver 'hawking' bell with S-shaped link. Wear on the link. Length including link 23mm, length not including link 16.2mm, diameter 12.8-13.3mm, length of link 9.4mm, thickness of link 1.3mm, weight 2.15g.The Treasure report reads:Small complete silver bell, hollow, with suspension loop and S-shaped ring. The bell hemispherical and made in two parts joined by cable ornament, pierced at lower half, still containing its original pip which sounds.Whereas similar bells were sewn onto clothing as fashionable accessories in the late medieval period, especially in the 15th Century, bells of this kind were, in the 16th Century, used for jesses on hawks and falcons; collars for dogs and cats; as well as being an element in horse furniture.This is 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, or 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.This one is difficult to date but might be 15th Century or later. Compare bell with chivalric inscription, 2008 T738.As such, due to its age and precious metal content, this object qualifies as Treasure under the stipulations of the Treasure Act 1996.Dr Dora Thornton, Curator of Renaissance Collections
Original Image | Publisher: | http://finds.org.uk | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Identifier: | http://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/r... | Go to resource |
|
More Like this...
-
BELL
Silver-gilt bell, hemispherical, delicately made…
-
Bell
post-medieval silver fragment
Round piece…
-
BELL
post-medieval silver fragmentRound piece of…
-
BELL
Small silver bell, made of…
-
Bell
Treasure 2008 T576
Post Medieval…
-
BELL
Treasure 2008 T576 Post Medieval…
-
BELL
Treasure Number: 2011 T212 Colchester…
-
BELL
A Post Medieval silver spherical…
-
-
BELL
A complete cast silver spherical…
|