MEDIEVAL STRAP END

1200

A cast copper alloy composite strap end. The object consists of a rectangular section with a circular terminal. The forked spacer plate is sandwiched between two sheets of copper alloy. The terminal is knopped, and is decorated with abstract curvilinear engraving on the top plate, which extends down the rectangular section. This has been cast in one piece. The decoration is a typical style of the 13th century. Areas of the decorated top plate have worn away on the terminal to reveal the spacer beneath. There are four iron rivets on the terminal joining the back and front plates to the spacer plate, one at 12, 3, 6 and 9 o’clock. The spacer plate itself is decorated with four pierced quatrefoils surrounding a central hole, with a hole in each angle. There are two rivets at the attachment end either side of a trefoil attachment edge with a central groove. The reverse appears to be undecorated, and is worn. The object is of a light greyish green patina. This artefact probably dates to the 13th-14th century.