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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. One of these plates is now missing, and the mount is broken into two pieces. The central hooked plate is bent backwards.The mount has an in situ c.3mm diameter iron rivet at the centre and either end, for attachment purposes. Iron corrosion surrounds these. The hanging plates each have a rivet hole at either end, again for attachment purposes, the central plate retaining both iron rivets while the other has one only.The mount is broadly rectangular in form with crenellated shorter sides and semi-circular cut-outs along the top edge 6mm wide, one close to either end. The edge between is crenellated. Below is a rectangular panel filled with raised dots and the raised initials IHS, an abreviation of Jesus Christ, or perhaps standing for Jesus Hominum Salvator - Jesus Saviour of Men. Curving panels to either side are filled with alternating linear ribs and raised dots. The three loops extend from the bottom (long) edge and are c.12mm in diameter (internal c.7mm). The mount measures 70.38x29.85x(max)4.03mm.The hooked plates are roughly triangular in form, with a pierced knop (for the iron rivet) at one end while the globular-terminalled hook, which curves round to meet the plate, extends from the other. Below the knop is an openwork oval, and below this a panel with the raised initials IHS on a background of raised dots. A pentagonal panel below has a raised triangle on a background of raised dots, with a 2.5mm diameter piercing at the centre for the rivet. Below extends a scrolling foliate pattern, extending along the edges to the other end of the plate. The plates measure c.54x23.5x2mm.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, however this particular 'IHS' design is rather more unusual, with only three other examples recorded on the PAS database (SWYOR-A3E343, WMID-68E8C4 and DENO-ABE001).As is, the strap fitting weighs 33.35g and measures 78.52x84.80x11.27mm.
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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