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Description: | Cast copper alloy anthropomorphic finial, probably knife handle in the form of a male figure with a flat lozenge-shaped hat, thin collar or chain of office and what looks like a scroll of parchment between the collar and where the hands are clasped around it across the waist. The figure appears to be cloaked, and the shape of the hat suggests that the figure might have a stately office, such as Lord Chancellor, as it is like those worn by Thomas More and Thomas Cromwell during Tudor times, which are referred to as scholars' hats. Depictions of these characters were repeatedly reproduced in works of art during the early 17th century and they are often shown holding a scroll or legal document. It may simply be depicting a scholar holding a document, and the knife may have been used to slit open seal impressions. The handle is hollow and 12 mm in diameter at the broken end which reveals a cylindrical wooden peg within that was part of the haft or handle. The socket is circular in section but the figure is more triangular in plan, with a flat back.Read (1998) illustrates a knife haft in the form of a female figure on page 155, no.1048, which is dated from the 17th century.Read (2001) illustrates a knife handle in the form of a woman with a similar stance clasping a heart across her body, on page 87, fig.55, no.638, which is dated to c.1620.See record WMID-91D8C1 for a similar anthropomorphic knife handle in the form of a tonsured male figure, probably a monk, wearing a monastic habit with his arms held at his waist.
Original Image | Publisher: | http://finds.org.uk | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Identifier: | https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/ | Go to resource |
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