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Description: | Gilt strap-end for scabbard of a characteristic 14th-century design, of box-like construction. The part that contained the strap is rectangular with shaped end with median notch and is pierced by two rivet-holes containing iron corrosion. The face is inscribed with a monogram of MAR (for the Virgin Mary) reserved on an obliquely hatched field. The plate is then enlarged into a very box-like diamond-set element cast in the form of an elaborate quatrefoil in high relief forming a square boss. The diamond-shape ends in an animal-head terminal transversely pierced to form a loop. Much of the upper part of the broken separate back-plate is missing, the surviving scrap has a perforation on the reverse of the diamond box. The piece is of interest in having the transverse hole from a projecting lug because it is very similar to some contemporary book-clasps. These particular types of book-clasp also have a hole to the rear like this present piece. Book-clasps use these holes to clip over a projecting lug on the body of the book; it seems most probable that this is not a book-clasp, although the religious inscription would fit such a use. However, it will be important to see if the traditional interpretation, of scabbard belt-mounts as given here, can be sustained.Length 72mm, plate width 29mm. Height of diamond-set 'box' 8mm. Cf. Examples from Bunwell (HER 10007), Narborough/Narford (HER 32309), Thurne (HER 51775), Witton (HER 51189), and Fingerlin (1971), p.111, nos.174-8.
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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