LOT 0381

'The Kirkleavington' Medieval Bronze Inscribed Purse Frame

15TH-16TH CENTURY A.D.

8 1/8 in. (183 grams, 20.7 cm).

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.

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.

Cf. a near identical purse frame in the Victoria and Albert Museum, accession number M.14-1968.

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')