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Description: | Copper alloy and Iron Knife. The stub of an iron whittle tang knife of length 17mm, width 5mm and thickness 3.5mm fixed in a copper alloy sheet metal sheathed wooden handle of length 26mm, now partly decayed. The handle tapers slightly from a flat top, which has a tear drop shape, with the two curved faces of its metal jacket meeting as a butted seam of keeled form on one side, and flattened opposite.The flat and curved fields afford space for finely incised decoration. The flat top bears a naturalistically rendered face of a bearded and moustached man with prominent oval eyes, viewed at a three-quarter angle, haloed or hooded, against a diagonally hatched ground; the keeled side of the handle is below his chin. One curving side panel is framed by pillars and a flat arch enclosing a figure in a floppy hat and a long layered coat, possibly bearded and with the figure's left arm crooked across the body; this resembles the conventional image of a pilgrim. The opposite curved face bears the same framing elements, but confining what now appears as a vegetal spray, possibly a relict of a further figure. The flat face opposite the 'keel', bears a column with its plinth and pediment horizontally lined, and the pillar diagonally striped or corrugated.The arched motifs recall the framing of sacred figures in niches or painted windows, while the striped pillar resembles one of the distinctively twisted pillars supporting the Baldacchino, a canopy over the high altar of St Peter's in Rome, designed by Bernini and constructed 1623-1634. This structure drew on a tradition of helical columns as were thought to have been used in Solomon's Temple at Jerusalem, and previously used in ecclesiastical settings to indicate areas of particular sanctity. The figurative style of decoration rendered by finely incised strokes is comparable with that appearing on iconographic finger rings of the early 16th century. A post-Reformation date would seem unlikely given the strong Roman Catholic implications of these motifs, unless perhaps in a recusant or rebellious context. Suggested date: Early Post-Medieval, 1500-1550.Length: 43.3mm, Width: 14.1mm, Thickness: 11.3mm, Weight: 6.85gms
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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