MEDIEVAL TOY

1400

Copper-alloy miniature tripod cauldron. Medieval or post-medieval. Mass: 24.9g; width: 25.8mm; length: 24.4mm; outer circumference of rim: 20.1mm. Circular, flaring, rim; waisted neck; and bulbous body with slightly sagging base. There is one long tapering oval-sectioned leg projecting slightly outwards from the edge of base, and the stubs of two further legs that have broken off. The vessel has two diametrically opposed loop handles attached to the rim and shoulder. The cauldron has a heavily pitted black/green exterior surface, with a lighter green interior. There are unidentified light brown adhesions on the inside of the cauldron, and also around the handles and two legs of the base.Similar toy cauldrons are illustrated in: “Toys, Trifles and Trinkets”, Egan, 2005, p. 111-114. The date range suggested for the cauldron recorded here is between the 15th and the 17th centuries, in line with the suggested dates of the copper-alloy cauldrons recorded in Egan’s catalogue.