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Description: | Copper alloy Harness Pendant. Cast circular plate with four equidistantly spaced lugs projecting from its rim, and with a suspension loop at right angles to the plane of the display face. The suspension loop retains what is possibly the remnant of a further loop passing through its aperture, which may suggest this to be part of a larger composite pendant - it is rather small on its own. A parallel considered below was associated with a larger cruciform pendant from which it is thought to have hung.The lugs bear each bear four radial grooves. The central motif is a human mask, apparently short haired and clean shaven with deep set eyes, and it is surrounded by (now) pale green material which may be degraded enamel of uncertain original tint.The finder kindly notes the similarity of SWYOR-E933C2 to this object, inferring a later medieval date. However, Steve Ashley's study of harness pendants cautions that a pendant of similar size and form 'may have some association with the group of early finds...' of 12th to early 13th-century date, including several composite pendants (Ashley, S. 2002, Medieval Armorial Horse Furniture in Norfolk, East Anglian Archaeology 101, Norfolk Museums and Archaeology Service, Dereham, page 23, fig. 23 no. 231, cf. figs 7-8). For neither period does the mask resemble a conventionally hirsute Christ and the configuration of cheek and jaw lines is slightly skull-like. Suggested date: Medieval, 1175-1225.Height:25.2 mm, Width: 18.0mm, Thickness: 2.0mm, Weight: 3.14gms.
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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