Medieval Bronze Vesica-Shaped Seal Matrix with a Bird

CIRCA 14TH-15TH CENTURY A.D.

1 1/8 in. (7.59 grams, 29 mm).

With central motif of a bird wearing the confessor's stole and holding an aspergillum in one foot, legend to the border '*CONFITEOR TIBI ABSOLVO TE' (I confess to you; I absolve you).

Provenance

Acquired on the UK art market in the 1980s.
From an East Anglian private collection.

Footnotes

A fox - the penitent - lurks below the confessor, here depicted as a bird (duck?) wearing the confessor’s stole and holding a sprinkler for holy water in one foot. The confessor is about to become the fox’s next meal. This is an important addition to the repertoire of renardine satire – the fox-as-preacher to a congregation of birds (often with a couple already stashed in his hood behind) is a common motif in several media. On seal WILT-41EDE6, for example, he stands (with crozier) preaching to a duck and cockerel, but this is the first example of him
coming to confession – with malice aforethought, of course.

CONDITION

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LOT 0398