Details

LOT 0937

Medieval Richard III Heraldic Horse Harness Pendant with Hanger

15TH CENTURY AD

1 1/4" (10.7 grams, 32 mm).

A cast bronze harness pendant and suspender-bar; the pendant quatrefoil in plan with high-relief motifs of a boar's head, a crescent above and a radiant star below, all three badges of King Richard III; the suspension bar triangular in section with knop finials and collars, pierced in two places, hinge below.

Provenance

From an old North Country collection; found east of Bosworth field in the 1980s.

Footnotes

The harness pendant formed part of the heraldic display of the king's entourage as they took to the field, attached to the trappings of the horses. The boar's head was the badge of the Plantagenet kings and featured on the coinage of Edward V and Richard III. Richard III also used the devices of the crescent and the sun, which feature on the pendant above and below the boar's head motif.

CONDITION