Medieval Knight's Enamelled Gilt Bronze Heraldic Horse Harness Head Finial

Rectangular plaque with reserved border and fluted spandrels to the upper corners; figural scene with standing nimbate female in veiled robe holding a book in one hand; before her, a standing child with hand raised towards her and behind him an adult male in knee-length tunic with a travelling cloak; altar with stepped base, paved floor, latticework with quatrefoils at the nodes; mounted on a custom-made stand. 241 grams total, 94 mm, 15.3 cm including stand



Mrs Chester D. Tripp. Gifted to the Cleveland Museum of Art in honour of William Wixom, 1979. Deaccessioned by the museum before 2000. Private collection, Scotland, acquired at auction in Zurich in 2000. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.13543-262827.

The plaque shows a child being presented by his father to a nimbate female saint wearing a veil covering her hair. The plaque features fictitious cusped architectural arches that spring from small corbels at each of the upper corners and embellish the plain borders framing the scene, as well as the tiled floors and diaper-pattern background ornamented with small cross motifs.

Comprising five harness pendants and two hangers, two pendants with remains of enamel. 60 grams total, 37-51 mm



From a UK collection formed in the 1980s. Property of an Essex, UK, gentleman.

Comprising two book fittings: one a complete fitting of Howsam Type A.9.2, composed of three main elements: an attachment end, a boss, and a projecting terminal with an attached ring, the attachment end rectangular and hollow, with a decorated obverse and a plain reverse, and two iron rivets pierced through either side, the obverse of the plate bordered on two sides by defined squares, seven at the top and six at the base, between these a slightly recessed central field, on which inscribed the letters ‘IHC’ in an ornate serif font, the attached lozenge-shaped boss moulded in relief of a four-petalled floral, whilst the reverse with a single circular depression on the underside, the projecting terminal in the form of a stylised snouted animal head, moulded in relief, whilst the reverse is plain and undecorated, at the end of this terminal an attached loop with another separate ring attached at a right-angle; the other with a tiered lozenge-shaped boss and a looped terminal, rectangular plate with two rivets in situ, the upper face with an inscription 'IHC' on a hatched gilt background. 74.7 grams total, 67-78 mm



Found whilst searching with a metal detector in Barham, Kent, UK; one recorded with PAS. Property of a Kent gentleman, a specialist medieval collector. Accompanied by a copy of the British Museum's Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) report no.KENT-3AF321.

The PAS report states: 'This object is a book fitting of Howsam A.9.2 (Howsam, 2010). The A.9 type fastenings are typically elaborate in both form and decoration, as demonstrated by this example. This object would have functioned by means of the strap-and-pin mechanism (Howsam, 2010, pp. 39). The Christogram engraved on the central field is in relation to the first three letters of the name Jesus in Greek (ΙΗΣΟΥΣ) transliterated into Latin letters. Unlike other comparable examples, this script runs 90º anti-clockwise. This object adds to a corpus of similar examples recorded on this database. This object adds to a corpus of similar examples recorded on this database: NMS-7D0635, IOW-7D75B7, BERK-AC4903, NMS-369AB8 and LIN-74ACFC.'