POST MEDIEVAL HARNESS MOUNT

1500

Large quatrefoil harness mount, basically square in shape. It has four hollow domed bosses, each with a perforation in the centre; a copper-alloy rivet survives in one perforation, with a conical head and a surprisingly short shank (shorter than the height of the boss). The bosses have a flange all around each one; two diagonally opposite flanges have a rivet hole in the outer corner, and the outside of all the flanges is decoratively shaped. The inner corner of each flange has a semi-circular perforation, together forming a cross shape in the reserved metal. This cross shape is extended out to the edge of the mount by ladder-pattern grooved decoration; there is a black colour in the grooves which may possibly be inlay, but which is perhaps more likely to be the remains of a black coating. There is more ladder pattern engraving around the base of each boss and on the outside of the flanges. There are traces of gilding here and there. It seems that some of the scrolled projections around the outside may be missing (old breaks) and the measurements given are those of the mount as it survives. This mount has been seen by various curators in the Medieval and Modern Europe department at the British Museum, who all agree that it is early post-medieval.