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Description: | Incomplete round green glass Post-Medieval bottle seal, dating to between 1713-1743. The seal has a raised badge of arms on the front surface, surrounded by a garter with an Earl's crown above. The inscription reads 'Honi soit qui mal y [pense]', which is the motto of the chivalric Order of the Garter. The reverse in uneven where it would originally have been attached to a glass vessel, probably a wine bottle. The lower edge has a chip missing. The glass is mid-green in colour with an oxidised, iridescent, slightly flaky patina on the outer surface. A survey of past Knights of the Garter (http://www.heraldica.org/topics/orders/garterlist.htm), for an 18th century Earl with links to Somerset, suggests John Poulett, the 4th Baron of Hinton St George, who was made 1st Earl Poulett in 1706 and installed as a Knight of the Garter in 1713. Earl Poulett's family had long standing links to Somerset and interestingly the town of Hinton St George is in a neighbouring parish to Merriott where the object was found (Burke 1980, 2164). The arms in the centre of the garter also confirm the links to Poulett. It is common for the arms in the the top left and bottom right to belong to the owner (Brooke-Little 1970, 139) and indeed you can just about see that in this case these contain three swords pointing downwards, which Burke's (1989) 'The General Armoury', confirms are the Poulett family arms; '...three swords in a pile, their points in base...'. We would also expect the arms to contain those of Poulett's wife, Bridget Bertie (Burke 1980, 2164). Burke tells us that Bridget was a co-heiress and so her arms are placed in the centre of the shield (Brooke-Little 1970, 141). According to Burke (1989) they are '...three battering rams, barways'. The final two quarters do not appear to be those of Poulett's mother, Susan Herbert, daughter of Philip Herbert, the 5th Earl of Pembroke (Burke 1980, 2164), which would consist of three lions rampant (Burke 1989). Although, as she wasn't an heiress, they wouldn't have been passed down to her son. The answer, however, appears to lie further back in the family's history, when Poulett' grandfather, the 2nd Baron Poulett, married Catharine Vere, daughter of Horatio de Vere (Burke 1980, 2163). According to Burke (1989) the de Vere arms are quartered with a mullet, or sun-like symbol, in the top left section. Those on the seal look some thing like this; divided into four sections with a star-like blob in the first. This is strange as she wasn't an heiress either.With so much evidence it is therefore certain that the seal ,and likewise the bottle to which it was attached, belonged to Poulett. And furthermore we can reliably date it to between 1713, when he was installed as a Knight of the Garter, and his death in 1743.Diameter: 44.58mm, Thickness: 8.65mmWeight: 20.33g
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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