318 (36)

290

Dress Accessories

one has a tiny spoon at the opposite end from the nib, though MoL acc. nos. A2405 and 1574 are plain here, like the free ends of chapes). The similar size of these pens provides an altemative interpretation of the larger, morę robust but incomplete items of this generał type (for exam-ple no. 1437; the other items of comparable size here seem either too flimsy to have been pens, or they differ in having the wider ends neatly cut off transversely).

If all the items listed below are also regarded as chapes, it is possible to see a gradual standardisa-tion in size and in the fmishing of the ends, with the longer, larger-diameter ones becoming less common after the middle of the 14th century. Since late-medieval depictions indicate a greater elaboration in some arrangements involving laces, with a stronger emphasis on their decorative possibiłities than previously, it might have been expected that variation in chapes themselves would have increased.

POSSIBLE LACE CHAPES

Ceramic phase 8 (c. 1230—c. 1260)

1437 TL74 acc. no. 2203 (context 1347)

1 43mm, d 4.5mm (not obviously tapering), broken off at both ends, the sheeting is thicker at one end; gunmetal (AML).

1443    SWA81 1967 (2065) fig 188

1 90mm, d 6 - 3mm; bronze (AML); narrow end has folded tab.

1444    BWB83 3587 (163)

1 lOOmm, d 4.5 - 3.5mm, both ends broken off; bronze (AML).

Ceramic phase 11 (c. 1350—c. 1400)

1445    BWB83 3732 (338)

1 59mm, d 6 - 4mm; brass (AML); overlapping seam.

1446    BWB83 1680 (317)

1 61mm, d c.5 - c.4mm; brass (AML); narrow end has a folded tab (the comers of which have not, as on the other examples, been rounded off); relatively thick sheeting.

1447    BWB83 2721 (329)

1 63mm, d c.4.5 - c.2.5mm; gunmetal (AML); narrow end has tab folded over.

1448    BWB83 4633 (299)

1 67mm, d c.5 - c.3mm; bronze (AML).

1449    BC72 4156 (88) fig 188

1 70mm (bent), d 1.5mm (not tapering); gunmetal (AML); contents degraded fibrę - uncertain whether textile, leather, or roots.

Ceramic phase 9 (c. 1270—c. 1350)

1438 SWA81 3371 (2134)

1 57mm, d 5 - 6mm; gunmetal (AML); narrow end broken off.

1439    SWA81 1893 (2137) fig 188

1 58mm, d 4.5 - 6mm; gunmetal (AML); wide end faceted and has untrimmed end overlap.

1440    SWA81 625 (2051) fig 188

1 70.5mm, d 5 - 3mm; bronze (AML); wide end faceted, narrow end has folded tab; the sheeting is relatively thick.

1441 SWA81 1187 (2149 area) fig 188

I 72.5mm; d 8 - 6mm; gunmetal (AML); narrow end has folded tab, wider end has untrimmed overlap.

1442    SWA81 1684 (1280) probably phase 9

1 85mm, d 10 - 4mm; bronze (AML); narrow end has folded tab.