Rights Holder: Royal Institution of Cornwall
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Unique ID: CORN-A6D554
Object type certainty: Certain
Workflow
status: Published
Cast copper-alloy figurine of a horse in the round, with moulded ears and nose, incised lines for hair on one side of the mane, and wedge-shaped tail (which looks 'docked' rather than incomplete). It is a heavy casting for its size, weighing 97.1 g.
The style and pose of the horse is reminiscent of Medieval chess pieces (bronze examples have been found in London as illustrated in Ward Perkins (1993) (LMMC), Plate XCII, Fig.1, No.A3935, dating to the Medieval period). Other copper-alloy horse figurines on the database include HAMP-8FE574 and SWYOR-D37EE5, but these have riders combined with the horse, which makes more sense as a chess piece. The present piece does not have any fittings for a rider. It does not stand flat on all fours (it seems too robust for this all to be the result distortion from bending).
It is most likely to have been a weight, as it resembles some Medieval equine figures thought to be weights, mainly found in Norway but also elsewhere in Scandinavia, where they are dated to the early 14th century (Geoff Egan pers comm - based on reference in Norwegian [www.vikingtid.net/Hest%202.JPG] provided by Petter Molaug, Norwegian Institute for Cultural Heritage Research).
The present find (and a possible fragmentary parallel at NMGW-4B2431) seem to be the first discovered outside Scandinavia.
Current location of find: returned to finder
Subsequent action after recording: Returned to finder
Broad period: MEDIEVAL
Period from: MEDIEVAL
Period to: MEDIEVAL
Date from: Circa AD 1300
Date to: AD 1350
Quantity: 1
Length: 53 mm
Width: 20 mm
Thickness: 40 mm
Weight: 97.1 g
Date(s) of discovery: Tuesday 12th June 2007
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Primary material: Copper alloy
Manufacture method: Cast
Completeness: Complete
4 Figure: SW5032
Four figure Latitude: 50.13527
Four figure longitude: -5.499807
1:25K map: SW5032
1:10K map: SW52NW
Grid reference source: From finder
Unmasked grid reference accurate to a 100 metre square.
Author | Publication Year | Title | Publication Place | Publisher | Pages | Reference | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
London Museum | 1940 | London Museum Medieval Catalogue | London | HMSO | Plate XCII, Fig.1, | No.A3935 |