Medieval Bronze Knight's 'Swinburn Family' Heraldic Horse Harness Pendant with Three Boar's Heads

Comprising bells of various types, sizes and dates, most with a suspension loop and some retaining their clappers. 1.4 kg total, 3-12.5 cm



Acquired 1990s-early 2000s. East Anglian private collection.

The roundel held within a lead came with suspension loop to top, displaying the infant Christ suckling at the breast of the Virgin, seated within a grand architectural setting with vistas onto the landscape beyond; repaired. 272 grams, 23 cm



Ex property of Ellen G and Manual E Rionda, Glen Goin, Alpine, New Jersey, U.S.A. From the collection of Woody and Nancy Bolton, Charlottesville, Virginia, U.S.A. with Samuel T. Freeman & Co, 22 May 2012, lot 263. Ex central London gallery.

The bar with central D-shaped block pierced vertically by a stud surmounted by the suspension loop, with four pierced flanges to the underside; the frame in two sections, the larger a U-shaped rod with pivot for the bar, the smaller pivoting within the inner face, both pierced on the inner face; the block inscribed to one face with capital S and to the other with intersecting Vs; the bar inscribed to one face in capitals 'A DOMINI TECVM' and to the other in coarsely incised capitals 'AVEMARIA G[R]ACIAPLE[NA]'; the smaller rod inscribed in capitals 'CREATOREN CELI ET TERRE ET IN [IES]VN'; the larger inscribed with a band of scrolled decoration and the text in Lombardic capitals 'SOLI DEO HONOR ET GLORIA'; the accompanying letter discusses the texts (1) Ave Maria G[r]acia ple[n]a Dominus Tecum 'Hail Mary full of grace, the Lord [is] with thee'; (2) Soli Deo Honor et Gloria 'Honour and glory to God alone'; (3) Creatorem celi et terrae et inferum 'creator of heaven and earth and in Jesus'. The intersecting Vs may form a monogram for A[ve] M[aria]; the 1847 letter describes the findspot as 'found at Kirkleavington near Yarm in the sill of a brook' in the North Riding of Yorkshire. 183 grams, 20.7 cm



Found at Kirkleavington near Yarm, North Riding of Yorkshire, UK, in 1847. Accompanying label describes it as ‘found in constructing the Leeds and Thirsk Railway, near Kirkleavington, Co. York. Communicated by John Bourne, Esq. Engineer to the Company, Leeds’. Accompanied by a manuscript letter of September 17th 1847 from Mr Histon Longstaffe discussing the text, with later amendments date 1854. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by searcher certificate no. 200593.

Metal purse frames of this type were a luxury personal accessory of late Middle Ages and early Renaissance period (about 1450-1500). They were decorated with niello. In this technique the metalworker engraved a pattern or design onto highly polished metal and filled the incised lines with a hard black alloy. Religious inscriptions were incised to invoke the divine protection. A fragmentary purse-frame in the MOL [ID 4452] containing this same portion of the Apostles Creed enables us to correct the 19C reading INFERVN to IN IESVN ('in Jesus')