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Description: | Incomplete copper-alloy and enamel buckle plate of Medieval date. The object consists of a flat sub-square plate with a circular rivet hole drilled hole in each corner and a pair of flat tongue-shaped projections with a gap between set in the same plane as the plate, protruding from the mid-point along the left-hand side of the plate which formed part of the strap fastener or attachment point for a separate buckle frame. The front of the square plate carries an enamel design in the style of the Limoges school of enamel work which. The fitting may comprise part of a belt buckle set or possibly a book mount forming part of the strap fastener and both classes of object are known to have been produced by the Limoges workshops. The design consists of the bust of a Christian figure, possibly a saint or biblical character. The oval head of the figure, who is facing forwards, is however angled slightly down towards the bottom left of the buckle frame and the features of the face also indicate a gesture of looking down towards the person's right-hand side. The head of the person is surrounded by a circular nimbus (halo ring) in-filled with deep red enamel and the shoulders are covered with the folds of a toga-like dress, in-filled with a brighter red enamel. The detail of the face, toga folds and nimbus are picked out with raised flat-topped rims of copper-alloy which create the recessed cells for the enamel and add additional detail. These rims carry traces of surviving gilding. The bust is set in a chamfered square frame and the cell between this rim and the bust is in-filled with an outer and inner border of pale green enamel with a square frame of yellow enamel in between. A further outer square cell for enamel then surrounds this frame and incorporates the drilled rivet holes at each corner. This cell is in-filled with deep blue enamel punctuated with a column of three white circular dots to the top and bottom and four white dots to the right and left. Beyond this cell the edges of the copper-alloy frame are decorated with a border of side-by-side incised grooves. The reverse of the plate is flat and plain with the two attachment projections being notably thinner than the main plate and therefore raised up from the level of the base of the plate.It is notable that in contrast to other examples of similar plate-type strap fittings recorded by PAS (eg. BH-9EC418 & BH-CF3D47), often identified as buckle plates, this example carries four drilled attachment holes rather than the usual two.Dimensions: Length (including projections): 33.59mm; without projections: 27.88mm. Thickness of plate: 2.37mm;thickness of projections: 1.50mm.Limoges enamel work was produced in France and exported across Europe between c.1100-1300. This item has been dated c.1150-1250 in line with the typical dating of these items in Britain.
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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