pendant
- Museum number
- 1888,0608.8
- Description
-
Pendant; copper alloy, traces of enamel, traces of gilding; of shield-shaped form with central attachment loop; with the royal arms of England (gules three lions passant guardant) prior to the quartering with those of France in 1340.
- Production date
- 14thC(early)
- Dimensions
-
Height: 45 millimetres
- Curator's comments
- Text from Alexander & Binski 1987, see bibliography:
'Horses were often elaborately decorated and caparisoned in the Gothic period. All the elaborate horse trappings have now vanished but for the fragments of heraldic embroidery from the Cluny Museum, which may indicate their quality. What have survived in much greater numbers are the cast copper alloy pendants, often enamelled, that were used either for the breast strap (peytrel) or on the head harness. They were popular in the late thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and the military campaigns of Edward I may have provided a stimulus for the production of these pendants. No pendants are known in gold or silver, and it may be that most copper alloy pendants were used for the decoration of the horses of servants or retainers. The selection made for this exhibition concentrates on the heraldic pendants, though many pendants are known without heraldry. '
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
1987-1988 6 Nov-6 Mar, London, Royal Academy of Arts, Age of Chivalry: Art in Plantagenet England 1200-1400
- Acquisition date
- 1888
- Department
- Britain, Europe and Prehistory
- Registration number
- 1888,0608.8