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LOT 1864
Medieval Bronze Chess Piece Personal Seal Matrix with Fox-Bishop
14TH CENTURY A.D.
3/4 in. (7.09 grams, 18.65 mm high).
With a beaded border, a long-eared fox with a bishop’s crozier preaches to a congregation of birds; this hugely popular satirical motif in which the pastor becomes the predator, preying on his flock, was originally directed against the mendicant friars but soon came to criticise the regular
clergy too; the two pairs of letters, either side of the ‘preacher’, appear to read 'IE ME', perhaps Anglo-Norman for ‘I love’. [No Reserve]
Found Gloucestershire, UK.
Acquired from the early 1980s.
From the private collection of a late Gloucestershire, UK, gentleman; thence by descent.
See Jones, M., The Secret Middle Ages, Cheltenham, 2025, pp.276-7, 282-3.
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AUCTIONS:
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LOT 1864
Medieval Bronze Chess Piece Personal Seal Matrix with Fox-Bishop
Sold for (Inc. bp): £143
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Medieval Silver Ring with Garnet Cabochon
13th-14th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £169
Flat-section hoop with punched annuates to the shoulders, discoid bezel with collar to base, cell with inset cloison. 5.06 grams, 23.6 mm overall, 18.48 mm internal diameter (approximate size British O 1/2, USA 7 1/4, Europe 15.61, Japan 15)
with Archaeologia, Switzerland, before 1983. Ex private North American collection. London private collection, 2016. -
Medieval Bronze Knight's Holy Sepulchre Badge
Circa 13th-14th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £143
Formed as a cross-crosslet, the symbol of the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre, with punched-point border. 0.99 grams, 22 mm
Ex Graham Slater collection, Cambridge, 1980s-1990s.
The 'Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem' was an order of knighthood under the protection of the Pope, formed around 1099 AD by Duke Godfrey of Bouillon, the leader of the First Crusade. It was established for the protection of pilgrims travelling to the Holy Land and was recognised by a Papal Bull in about 1113 AD. -
Medieval Bronze Corpus Christi
Circa 14th-15th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £156
Modelled in the round Corpus Christi with downcast head, draped loin cloth; hand pierced for attachment. 39.4 grams, 67 mm high
Found Lincolnshire, UK.
