|
Date: |
|
Description: | An incomplete Early Post-Medieval (1500-1700) copper alloy sword belt fitting, consisting of a mount with three suspension loops from which a trio of hooked plates would have hung. In turn, the scabbard straps would have been attached to these plates. The central one of these plates is now only a fragment. Measures 68.86x70.81mm and weighs 40.03g.The mount has a c.2mm diameter piercing at the centre and either end, for attachment purposes. There is iron corrosion around the central hole to both front and back. The hanging plates each have a rivet hole at either end, again for attachment purposes, the two complete plates having iron corrosion around the hole closest to the hook (again front and back) and an in situ iron rivet in the other rivet, surrounded by corrosion. The third plate is broken across the rivet hole closest to the hook and there is no sign of iron corrosion.The terminals of the mount are trefoliate, then comes a waist after which it widens towards the centre then narrows before widening into a lozenge above the central loop. The underside is undecorated while the front features an elaborate scrolled foliage pattern, split down the longitudinal axis, with incised fronds trailing towards the edges and a central arrangement of six leaves (around the central piercing). The three loops extends from one long edge and are c.11mm in diameter (internal c.6mm). The mount measures 68.86x29.04x(max)3.54mm.The hooked plates have one trefoliate terminal and a globular-terminalled hook, which curves round to meet the plate. From this end extends an elaborate scrolling foliate pattern with fronds to either side from a central stem, reaching into the trefoliate end. The plates measure c.50x20x2mm.Such fittings are rarely found complete, rather elements or broken examples are far more common. An illustration of another complete sword-belt fitting can be found in Read (2001, 43; fig. 26, ref. 373). Such fittings 'proliferate in the 16th and 17th centuries' (Geake 2001, 35). Their design and decoration are relatively standardised.
Original Image | Publisher: | http://finds.org.uk | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Identifier: | http://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/r... | Go to resource |
|
|