LOT 1114

Medieval Gilt-Bronze Enamelled 'Howard Family' Heraldic Horse Harness Pendant with Hanger

LATE 15TH CENTURY AD

2 1/2" (19 grams, 62 mm).

A cast harness pendant and suspender with enamelled heraldic detail; the suspender a segmented rosette with lugs below, stud to the reverse; the pendant a flat-section sexfoil with enamelled heater shield blazoned 'gules a bend argent between six cross-crosslets fitchee of the same', the arms of the Howard family.

Property of a Nottinghamshire collector.

The arms of the Howard family are reported to have appeared in this format in the carved ornament to a window of Hever Castle, Kent in The Gentleman's Magazine, vol.XI, 1839. John Howard was appointed to the office of Duke of Norfolk by King Richard III in 1483. The arms were later augmented by an escutcheon of the arms of the King of Scotland with the lion rampant truncated, a reference to the family's leading role in the defence of England from Scottish invasion at the Battle of Flodden Field in 1513. Subsequently, Catherine Howard became the fifth wife of King Henry VIII. The family's adherence to the Catholic faith led to loss of influence at the Reformation, although Queen Elizabeth I was descended from John Howard (great-great-granddaughter).