cloth-seal
- Museum number
- 1856,0701.5513
- Description
-
Cloth-mark; lead; seal for bay(?); (1): shield with: semy-de-lis, label of three points having horizontal hatching, all in cartouche, arms of Artois; (2): shield with fess, arms of Béthune, ornate letter to right.
- Production date
- 16thC-17thC (?)
- Dimensions
-
Diameter: 16 millimetres (both discs)
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- The first arms are those of the County of artois, and the cecond those of the city of Bethune (kindly identified by M. Dhenin). The (?)H may refer to one of the French kings Henry.
Bays had been woven at Bethune since at least the fourteenth century, and its worsteds were imported to England when the manufacture of traditional varieties declined in Norfolk (Kerridge 1985, 11, 42, 89 and 94). Artois also produced canvas and sailcloths (ibid., 221).
(Egan 1994)
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1856
- Department
- Britain, Europe and Prehistory
- Registration number
- 1856,0701.5513