MOUNT

A broken and incomplete figurative copper-alloy mount of medieval date (c. 12th/13th century AD). The mount would probably have depicted a saint full length, by reference to similar items discussed below; only the upper half of the torso and the head survive. The figure is shown facing holding a book in their right hand, through which a rivet hole has been drilled. An old break has occurred below this, largely diagonal, but also having removed some of the right arm. The body of the object is sub-rectangular and convex. The head above is moulded and set forward of the mount. A nose and mouth are delineated by grooves; there is also a transverse groove above the eyes. The eyes are formed of glass, one red around a blue core (possibly decayed blue), the other blue. The body features recessed cells, mostly longitudinal, some containing the remains of enamel, in red and blue. This enamelling technique is a characteristic product of the Limoges industry. The object is corroded with patches of green corrosion product; where the patina survives it is far darker green.

This piece is a typical figurative mount used in the adornment of medieval ecclesiastical objects such as reliquaries and altar crosses. Parallels can be seen on an unprovenanced casket in the Victoria and Albert Museum (M.572-1910), dated c. 1200-c. 1250; on crosses from Navelsjo and Ukna, Sweden, the latter dated c. 1195-1210, the former also to the late 12th/early 13th century (O'Neill ed. 1996, 185-186); and on several PAS records. See also an example in Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum (Cherry in Saunders (ed.) 2001, 41-42; fig. 8, ref. 2) and mounts on a chasse in the Musée du Louvre and once in the treasury of Saint-Denis, which has been dated to c.1225-50 (Boehm and Taburet-Delahaye 1996, cat. no. 113).