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Description: | A cast, copper alloy, medieval harness mount, dating from 1250-1400. It is an elaborate quatrefoil shape, similar to the pendant in the "Museum of London Medieval Catalogue", 1940, p118, fig.38(V). It is complete with shank projecting from the centre of the reverse, though this is so bent over it may it gives the impression of being a loop. Brown encrustation fills the space and the area where it meets the reverse surface. Most of the blue enamel remains. The metal finish is lost. Both sides have some brown and green patina. It measures 28.81mm long x 28.17mm wide x 6.48mm thick, including the bent over shank/loop. The metal thickness of the mount is 2.54 mm. The width of the stud/loop is 4.68mm. It weighs 8.97 gm.It is not heraldic, and most unlikely to have been used as a badge. It is Azure (blue) on which a swan necked creature is walking to the right Or (gold), or Argent (silver). The beast is raised above the base level confirming the metal finish to make it flush with the enamelled background. It is not an heraldic beast like a griffon or a wyvern. It has just the two legs. The space to the left is filled by it's tail, split into three leaf shapes. To the right is a matching leaf shape filling the space. Two legged beasts with tails split into leaves and other vegetation are popular in illuminated manuscripts. See the Luttrell Psalter and the Macclesfield Psalter both dating to the second quarter of the fourteenth century. See also "Salisbury Medieval Catalogue" Part 1. fig.31 no's 47 and 48 for floor tiles with similar beasts, dating to the thirteenth or fourteenth centuries. People of a knightly class would know of these beasts (grotesques), widely used in medieval art.I have not found another pendant like this on the database. Wyverns and hybrids( or grylluses) are not uncommon (NMS-36B418). Similar beasts are used on quatrefoil pendants and mounts but as symbolic space fillers between a heater shaped shield and the edge. See HAMP-73C704, NMS-ED7BB6. See also "Medieval Armorial Horse Furniture in Norfolk" 2002, Steven Ashley for a large example no.223 fig.22 and page 23. A round thin copper alloy mount of uncertain use on the database has a two legged beast with a tail which becomes a large leaf. SWYOR-48C2ES.
Original Image | Publisher: | http://finds.org.uk | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Identifier: | https://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/ | Go to resource |
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