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Description: | Medieval cast copper alloy horse harness pendant with an openwork frame which would have contained a separate 'swinger', now missing, see SUSS-103B73 for a complete example. The frame is sexfoil with shaped inner and outer edges and smaller lobed knops projecting at each external angle. The back is flat and the sides are slightly bevelled outwards to the front giving it a triangular section. There is an openwork rectangular arm at its apex, which terminates in an oval transverse suspension loop. In profile the sides of the arm widen in the centre and through the centres the widened sections are circular holes to hold the spindle on which the swinger would have been suspended. It is very corroded and a dark red brown with green patches, there are no traces of gilding which is common on these items. It is 48.4mm long, 28.0mm wide and 7.4mm thick; it weighs 10.23 grams.A similar, though quatrefoil, example is given in Griffiths (1986) p. 4 no.18 and suggests that although most common in the 14th century some openwork harness pendants may date to as early as the late 12th century (ibid:1).
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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