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Description: | A large fragment of Medieval painted window glass. It is roughly circular in form and has figural decoration depicting a face, probably of an angel or perhaps a saint. The glass is clear with many small air pockets and a slightly rough texture particularly on the back face and probably as a result of the method of manufacture. At the top of the sherd there is a short and smooth complete rounded edge, the curved form of the edges to either side deliberately worked to give the fragment its shape. The lower edges of the glass terminate in old breaks. The fragment measures 108.67mm in width, 99.71mm in length, 2.49mm in thickness and weighs 43.41g.At the centre of the object is depicted the now incomplete figural decoration. This comprises a face looking to the right with flowing hair curls to the left, all painted by hand onto the back face of the sherd where the paint remains slightly rough to the touch. The facial features are depicted in outline in a matt red/brown paint. At the base of the sherd can just be seen the top of the mouth, with the slender nose rising above. To either side of the nose are round eyes with circular pupils that look slightly downwards and to the right. The hair surrounding the face is also depicted in a matt red/brown outline, filled with a relatively vivid yellow paint. The hair curls themselves are flowing and extend to fill much of the surviving fragment. Above and surrounding the head is what appears to be a halo with curved outer edge and seven surviving inwards facing triangular projections. It too has a red/brown outline and yellow fill. Surrounding the halo at the edge of the sher are the remains of a red/brown border, perhaps serving as a border and therefore indicating that the current form of the top of the sherd is the original shape it would have taken when in situ within the window.What is perhaps most interesting about this sherd is the findspot. It was recovered from beneath the roof tiles in the eaves of a 16th century listed building during replacement of the roof. The roof had remained intact since construction and given where the sherd was found this suggests it was probably placed here during construction of the building. Dr. P. Graves (University of Durham, pers. comm.) suggests that this may have served as an apotropaic talisman, perhaps placed in the roof for safe keeping or for protection of the household. It is also possible that this relates to the period of iconoclasm in the 16th century when religious artefacts were deliberately damaged or destroyed, and may therefore have been kept or venerated for the owners' private purposes (P. Graves, pers. comm.). Dr Graves notes no other examples of stained/painted glass used in this way and therefore this represents an interesting find. She suggests it is of probable 15th century AD date, which would again accord well both with the date of construction of the house (16th century) and the period of iconoclasm.
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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