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Description: | An incomplete cast copper alloy pedestal / pendant seal matrix of medieval date (1250-1400). The die is broadly circular in plan with a diameter of 21.6mm. The reverse pedestal is broken; it rises to a height of 11.0mm terminating in a patinated break. The body of the matrix is a pedestal formed from six irregular tapering sides. There are no marks on any of the faces to aid orientation during use. The seal matrix weighs 6.71 grams.The die / seal face is well preserved but slightly corroded. The outer edge of the seal is slightly abraded but none of the inscription is lost. The central device of the seal depicts "a pelican in her piety", i.e., a female pelican, here perching on the edge of her nest (being almost hawk-like), pecking at her breast in order to draw the blood with which she feeds her three chicks, beaks agape, in the nest below. The bird's body forms an arch across the top of the scene, the nest forming the bottom arc. Her head is at the right on seal and left in impression and her tail interferes with the legend opposite; the chicks' heads are the row of three dots between the parent bird and her nest. a pelican 'in her piety' feeding three chicks in a nest. The detailing on the seal is fine and proportioned. The central design is enclosed within a continuous circular band. The inscription starts at 12 o'clock and reads * SVM PEI / CAVNES DEI which translates as The Pelican of God. The letters are deeply cut - but rather irregular in places. The inscription is enclosed within a circle of incised pellets (forming a rope like impression) which are lost in places due to abrasion damage.The matrix is of a mid-dark green colour with an even polished but corroded patina. This type of seal is dated to the late thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, 1250-1400 although the large die and relatively narrow handle / pedestal might suggest a date later within that bracket (c. 1350 - 1400)
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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