POST MEDIEVAL LOCKET

1600

Post medieval locket; cast copper alloy heart-shaped locket with paper insert and religious inscription. The locket has two heart-shaped plates joined by sides formed of a single strip of copper alloy. There is a twisted wire strip around the centre of the edges which expands at the top to form a suspension loop. Both the front and back panels have incised lettering on a hatched background. The complete panel reads ‘IHS’ but the other panel is damaged and cannot be read. There are traces of gilding across the object, especially on the sides. The locket contains a wad of paper. Delicately prising apart a few of the pages has revealed no writing on the paper. This may indicate that the writing has faded or been washed away. Alternatively, the paper may have always been blank and may be used as padding to fill the interior of the locket and give some extra structure to the front and back panels.The dating of this piece is problematic. The engraving of the lettered panels is in a distinctive medieval style but the rest of the locket seems to be of a later date. The preservation of the paper would seem to back up this later interpretation and I would suggest a 17th or 18th century date. However, it would seem quite probable that the front and back panels of the locket may be of an earlier date, possibly 14th or 15th century, and may have been reused from an older object.Length 40.5mm, width 33.7mm, thickness 9.2mm, weight 13.98g