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Description: | Two linked copper-alloy mounts of probable late medieval date. The mounts are of the same design, depicting an anthropomorphised crescent moon clasping a sun or star. The crescents of the moons and the points of the stars are decorated with incised marks. The sun or star has six points, but on the left example a seventh point extends to the right to form a suspension loop with which the second mount is attached to the first. The sun/star on the second mount is broken, but was found with the two mounts. It does not appear to have had an additional point for attachment for another mount, so it seems likely that there were no further mounts originally attached. Supporting this theory, the left mount also does not have a suspension loop to the left side, as the right one does. The reverse of the left mount has two pointed lugs for attachment on the reverse, and a sub-circular patch of leather survives attached. The second mount also has these lugs (one on the reverse of the moon, the other on the reverse of the broken sun/star), although no leather remains attached to this one. Differentiating between the sun and stars can be problematic in such items and an exchange in Shakespeare's Henry V, III, vii is illustrative of this : Lord Rambures asks 'My lord constable, the armour that I saw in your tent tonight, are those stars, or suns, upon it?' The constable replies 'Stars, my lord.' (quoted in Spencer 1990, 104).The sun and moon were emblems of Christ and the Virgin Mary respectively (Spencer 1990, 104) and it is thus possible that there is a religious significance to this artefact. However, the sun and moon were also used heraldically (for example, the arms of the Daunger family were a crescent moon with a sun between the horns (Spencer 1990, 104)) and this may therefore be a livery badge of some sort. Alternatively, it is possible that this badge was intended to be primarily decorative with no additional significance, and the moon has been a popular decorative motif for millennia.Similar types (though not identical) are illustrated in Spencer (1990, 126; figs 237-239) and these are dated to the 14th or 15th centuries. Based on comparison with these examples it seems likely that this example is of a similar date, although other examples recorded on the PAS database (e.g SUR-B4FDB1, NARC-7D1DB1, SUR-13BCB5, NMS-26F8C0) have been provided with possible post-medieval dates.
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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