medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
From: Chris Laning <[log in to unmask]>
> ...we certainly do have examples of the rather more sparing use of
metal plaques, coins, spangles, flat cutouts, and stamped and gilded
little bits on other items.
> - Quite a few of the lead and pewter pilgrim's badges, for instance,
were made to be sewn onto clothing rather than worn as pins.
certainly the case for some of those which survive from Chartres:
http://christophersbookroom.com/cc/badges/forgeais/forgeais2_28.jpg
http://christophersbookroom.com/cc/badges/forgeais/forgeais2_29.jpg
http://christophersbookroom.com/cc/badges/forgeais/forgeais4_118.jpg
http://christophersbookroom.com/cc/badges/forgeais/forgeais4_118.jpg
http://christophersbookroom.com/cc/badges/mitchiner/mit_ch_recto.jpg
http://christophersbookroom.com/cc/badges/mitchiner/mit_ch_verso.jpg
fashioning a "pin" would be an unneeded added complexity --and expense-- for
these modest pewter souviners.
> Metal badges, including figures of animals, crowns, etc., sewn onto the
clothing of servants and followers, were certainly a feature of noble
house-holds in many places right up through the 16th century.
http://www.christophersbookroom.com/cc/badges/horseshoe.jpg
http://www.christophersbookroom.com/cc/badges/peckerwood.jpg
> - The heavily embroidered and pearl-encrusted gloves of the Holy Roman
Emperor's regalia (Sicily, before 1220) are also decorated with metal plaques,
some of them enameled.
these fancy gloves can be seen on sculptures, among other places, at Chartres
(esp. South Porch, early 13th c.)
> - There is a surviving bishop's mitre from Minden (around 1400) with an
Annunciation scene decorated with flat gold-foil stars; it also has a row of
rectangular metal plaques around the bottom and a bas-relief gold
"vase" attached to the embroidery where flowers appear to spring out of
it.
> - There are also scattered loose plaques and flat ornaments that have
turned up in various archaeological digs, clearly intended for sewing onto
something.
ditto, on the Chartres statue columns.
earlier examples from such places as St. Gilles-du-Gard, Moissac, Souillac,
etc.
>Paintings are helpful as well, although these are much harder to interpret,
since one can often not be quite certain whether a given blob of paint is
supposed to represent a bead, a spangle, embroidery, a highlight, or an
accidental drip off the paintbrush <g>.
of course, late Middlevil (a.k.a. "Northern Renaissance") paintings, with
their marvelous attention to the tiniest detail, would provide a wealth of
material.
------------------
as it happens, i've recently been trying to identify a very curious element
found on a bit of 12th century sculpture.
it is, apparently, some sort of "utilitarian" object, not a "decorative" one.
among the extraordinary, very high quality sculptures found in excavations
from the church of the Annunciation in Nazareth, is a large (73cn high)
fragment of a torso of St. Peter (identifiable by his keys and church) :
http://www.christophersbookroom.com/cc/nazareth/bagatti/colfigs/bagatti-pl42.jpg
http://www.christophersbookroom.com/cc/nazareth/bagatti/colfigs/bagatti-pl43-3.jpg
he wears a cord-belt, below and to the left of the knot of which is suspended
this curious object, carved in low relief on the smooth area of the fabric
just there :
http://www.christophersbookroom.com/cc/nazareth/bagatti/colfigs/bagatti-pl43-4.jpg
(note that the image will expand to larger than the size of an IE window)
it appears to be some sort of "heart-shaped" object, suspended from a wound
cord smaller in diameter than the cord which serves as Peter's belt.
to the right of it is something else which i can't quite make out: perhaps a
thin leather(?) strap, looped in a half-hitch around the belt at the top and
ending in a series of regularly punched holes.
is there something suspended from it, just where the punched holes begin?
what *are* these objects ??
there is also the curious little "trident" scratched into the cloth just to
the left of the fold on the left of the "heart" --but that appears to be some
sort of "decoration", as opposed to those objects suspended from the belt
which are, surely, utilitarian in nature.
any thoughts on these would be most welcome.
the Nazareth sculptures, btw, surely date from before the recapture of the
town in 1187, and were perhaps done after a massive and destructive earthquake
in 1170.
best from here,
christopher
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