270 (41)

242

Dress Accessories

COMPARANDA

(mounts attached to items other than leather or textile)

Circular, domed mounts

Copper alloy

1293    SWA81 acc. no. 438 (context 2018) ceramic phase 9 fig 155

d 9mm; attached by an iron rivet or nail through a central hole to a sliver of wood (now 9x24mm). Identical in form to mounts nos. 819 etc.

1294    BWB83 2127 (307) 11

d 16mm; copper (AML); attached to fragment of iron sheeting.

Sexfoil and octofoil mounts

Copper alloy

1295    BIG82 2804 (4100) 7 fig 155

Four sheet mounts, set on two joined strips of copper alloy sheeting, which together measure 108xl0mm and are tin-coated on both sides: two sexfoils, each d lOmm, with raised edges and three dots along the centre of each lobe, and two incomplete mounts from which trilobed ends survive (possibly fleurs de lis). A hinge loop at one end of the strips and a hole at the other suggest this may be binding from a casket.

1296    BWB83 5834 (318) 11

Sexfoil, d 9mm, with domed centre, trimmed to shape of lobes and with engraved lines between the lobes, attached by single rivet to rectangular strip of similar sheeting 10x30mm (broken off at one end); the two additional holes near the edge of the mount, which would usually be taken to be for rivets, are useless here.

Cf sexfoils nos. 958 etc.

1297    BWB83 2737 329 11 fig 155

Dished sheet sexfoil; d 17mm; cut out to shape of lobes; attached by dome-headed rivet, and probably soldered, to broken sheeting strip (apparently of the same alloy) 6x20+mm.

Cf also nos. 520 and 1343 - (a sheet copper-alloy buckie piąte and a copper-alloy brooch) both with sexfoil mounts with concave lobes, and also BC72 acc. no. 3664 (fig 69) - an iron spur with two wrought-iron sexfoils soldered onto the band.

Lead/tin

1298    BWB83    4663    (108)    10    fig 155

Incomplete octofoil; d 17mm; single integral rivet; domed centre; lobes each have a raised dot in the middle; set on rectangular iron sheet 8xl2mm.

1299    BWB83    5826    (314)    12    fig 155

Cast lead (MLC) filling from back of domed sexfoil mount (cf nos. 952 etc).

Perhaps comparable to the lead filling the back of some of the domed, circular mounts nos. 873 etc, though the present item has no tracę of a rivet.

TACK/NAIL-LIKE OBJECTS

With tapering, pointed shanks

(cf also the copper-alloy tacks securing a kind of mount in no. 1129 and the mounts secured by pointed shanks on the strap in colour pl 5E)

Copper alloy

1300    BWB83 acc. no. 4717 (context300) ceramic phase ?11 fig 155

Stamped-sheet head, d 17mm, on pointed shank; copper (AML); the design is a sąuatting beast with a bearded human face, and the neck is contorted so that it looks backwards; it has a central tuft of dorsal hairs and a brush-like taił; beaded border. This is presumably a tack for soft upholstery, sińce hammering would have damaged the decoration. If the head had been found alone, it would probably have been interpreted as a dress mount (cf no. 793).

The highly fanciful beast is broadly comparable with those in marginal drawings in many manuscripts from around the middle of the 14th century (eg Luttrell Psalter, passim).

Iron

1301    BWB83 4636A & B (108) 10 fig 155 Two octofoils; d 20mm; lobes defined by rabetted lines. Rather robust compared with other dress mounts, these may be nails with decorated heads and the points broken off.

Lead/tin

1302    SWA81 2968 (2031) 9 fig 155

d 7mm; the shank, 1 llmm, is bent over. The metal seems too soft for a tack, but the point is not appropri-ate for most dress fittings.