|
Date: |
|
Description: | A copper-alloy knife handle of post-Medieval date.The cast handle takes the form of a praying human figure rising from the mouth of a sea serpent-like creature, and is undoubtedly a reference to the Biblical story of the release of Jonah from the big fish. The upward-facing fish forms the lower two thirds of the handle. At its base the body is of circular section, with three moulded rings located immediately above the iron-filled tang hole. The width of the handle gradually increases towards the head of the fish, where there are two large, moulded, ring-shaped eyes with internal pellets. A wavy, crest-like apendange separates the eyes and gradually peters out a short distance from the basal rings. This crest overlies the pattern of moulded scales which covers much of the upper and lower sides of the fish. In addition, there are four fins, two of which start at the base of the eyes, on the right and left hand sides respectively, and extend approximately half way down the fish, occupying the junction between the upper and lower surfaces. The second pair of fins is located on the underside of the handle, immediately below the eyes. Between this second pair of fins is a further symbol which is probably a further fin or could, alternatively, be interpreted as a downward-pointing hand and wrist. The jaws, defined by a perimeter ridge, bear a series of parallel curved mouldings, possibly representative of skin folds or gills. The upper body of the figure projects upwards from the gaping mouth of the fish. The arms are held in front of the body, angling upwards at 90 degrees from the elbow, the hands held together in prayer. The facial features are heavily worn as a result of use and only the deep eye sockets and prominent nasal ridge are clearly discernable, although there is also a suggestion of long hair at the back of the head. The only evidence of a garment is a prominent, ring-shaped collar. The artefact measures 76.4mm long, 19.7mm wide, 12.3mm thick and weighs 60.55g.Two similar knife handles have been recorded on the PAS database - see LIN-F16D33 and ESS-C12B55. For the Lincolnshire example, Adam Daubney cites three known parallels from Germany. One of these handles is held in the Bonn Museum (Bellerman 1863: 44, Taf. v.); a second handle was found at Andernach and is now in Cologne Museum; the third piece was found at Wesel (ibid.). In addition, Daubney cites a further, unprovenanced handle, thought to have been found in Ireland (Anderson 1876: 398). The record for ESS-C12B55 states that such handles have been found in the Netherlands, and that they date to c. 1600, but no references are provided to substantiate this claim. However, cutlery terminals in the form of large three-dimensional figures are certainly known from the Netherlands (cf. Ruempol and van Dongen 1991: 198 for a 17th century fork terminating in a three-quarter-length female figure). Certainly, the scarcity of these knife handles in Britain, coupled with their apparent relative abundance in Germany and the Netherlands, does suggest a non-British, western European place of manufacture.In terms of stylistic content, the depiction of the fish as a sort of mythical, serpentine creature is consistent with historical depictions whose origins lie in the early centuries AD and continue well into the Middle Ages and beyond (see Daubney, LIN-F16D33 for a more detailed discussion of antecedents). It has been postulated by Bellerman (1863: 44) that such knives were produced for Ecclesiastical use.
Original Image | Publisher: | http://finds.org.uk | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Identifier: | http://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/r... | Go to resource |
|
More Like this...
-
KNIFE
Copper alloy ecclesiastical knife handle.…
-
knife
Copper alloy ecclesiastical knife handle.…
-
KNIFE
Copper alloy ecclesiastical knife handle.…
-
-
KNIFE
A complete copper alloy anthropomorphic…
-
KNIFE
Elaborate erotic copper alloy knife…
-
-
DAGGER
Incomplete copper alloy knife, or…
-
BOWL
Cast copper alloy Coptic bowl.…
-
KNIFE
A Roman copper-alloy folding knife…
|