MEDIEVAL JEWELLERY

1400

Unidentified jewellery element made of pale gold. It appears complete, and might perhaps have been a decorative cap. It is sub-triangular or heart-shaped, and now rather crushed. Originally at least 6.5 mm thick, its sides have two facets of uneven depth, both decorated with delicate engraved scrolled motifs. On the wider facet of the angle these motifs are in zigzag fields, and on the other facet they are confined within a narrow band which narrows further towards the apex of the heart or triangle. The face next to the wider facet is better preserved and has a raised heart-shaped collar which probably originally held a stone; there is some ?adhesive surviving. The other face is much more crushed but also may originally have had a collar; within this, a fragment of ?greyish-greenish gemstone survives. James Robinson of the BM comments that the engraving is similar to that found on the shoulders of late medieval rings, and on analogy with these may once have been enamelled. Dimensions are measured in its crushed state.