Stunning medieval gold statue pendant - C13th judging by the Lombardic script on the scroll . This is probably to do with the Catholic church (DEI) and one of the members suggested FRCO is St Francis

Medieval gold figurine

PAS no: ESS-49E265

Treasure Report:   2008 T581                                                                            
Parish/County:          Tendring District, Essex

A medieval figure of John the Baptist. The saint is shown not in his usual attribute of a camel skin, but in the robes of a prophet. He gestures with his right hand to a salver, which he holds in his left. This was originally designed to carry a lamb, signifying the Lamb of God. A scroll issues from the Saint’s left hand and is inscribed with the words
: ECCE +ANGUS+DEI
(Behold, the Lamb of God)

The figure stands on a small plinth with a finished base. It is designed to be seen in the round and on its back there is a loop for attachment to an object. It would probably have been entirely enamelled, but no traces of enamel survive on the figure.

The figure is gold and dates from the late fifteenth or early sixteenth century.

Dimensions: height 33 mm, width 11 mm, depth 10 mm.

Consequently, in terms of age and as the object contains a minimum of 10% precious metal it qualifies as Treasure under the stipulations of the Treasure Act 1996.

         
J P Robinson
Curator of Medieval Collections
30th March 2009

I wonder if you are able to assist.
I am President of the Monumental Brass Society (a registered charity (no.214336) and have been advised of the find by Tenn Brad reported on your excellent website (see attached pdf).
This object is in fact part of a scroll from a monumental brass dated c.1450. The inscription is in Latin and reads "Pray for the soul of". It is not from a paten and not of such an early date. However, it is a fascinating discovery. All the more so because it was obviously recovered from    my local area. I live in Colchester! Would it be possible to be put in contact with the finder to learn more about this find and perhaps produce a rubbing from the object?
Keep up the good work.
Martin Stuchfield

Pilgrim ampullae - holly water bottle made of lead 12th to 15thC,

Mitchiner suggests that many ampullae were used in the annual springtime ’Blessing the Fields’ ceremony, in which the Holy Water they contained was sprinkled on the ground to give prayer for a good harvest. Having served this purpose, Mitchiner suggests that the ampullae were discarded. Others have suggested that the ampullae were buried along with their contents for a similar purpose.

It seems to be part of human nature to want to retain some physical object as a connection with a special place or event. Pilgrims have always left for home with souvenirs. Sadly, in the past as today, some are selfish enough to chip away pieces of stones, shrines or statues. It was this sort of vandalism at Christian shrines that led to the appearance of the Medieval trade in pilgrims’ signs or tokens in the 12th century.

Such signs, stitched to hats or cloaks, had practical value in offering genuine safe passage for pilgrims on their homeward journeys, even in times of war. They also gave prestige and proof that a person had actually done what they had set out to do. But, more than this, they were regarded as holy in themselves through having been in direct contact with the relics or tomb of a saint.

Signs were used as amulets for protection on the way home and to bring healing and other blessings to pilgrims themselves and to their friends and families. They were often buried in fields or placed in wells to bring abundance or weed-free crops, and placed in the home as apotropaic devices. Healing remedies could be made by dipping signs in water or wine to be drunk.

It was the shrine to St. Thomas Becket in Canterbury that made souvenir holy water containers popular. People have always gathered water from sacred springs and rivers, but this holy water, it was believed, contained an infinitesimal portion of the blood of the murdered bishop, thoughtfully gathered by the monks who discovered him. The water was believed to effect cures, and the practice soon spread to other shrines, although remaining a particularly English phenomenon.

These containers, called ampullae, were usually small, flat, bag-shaped, lead vials. Filled with holy water at the shrine and touched to the saint’s tomb or relic, they were worn hung around the neck.

East Anglian Type - IHC stands for Jesus Christ - 54.25g, 49.34mm H x 31.73mm W x 13.94mm T

East Anglian type with shell design

Pilgrim ampullae - holly water bottle made of lead 12th to 15thC,

These ampoule were brought from pilgrimage places as a souvenir

12th -15thC Pilgrims lead ampullae - East Anglia type

A flask-shaped pilgrim’s ampulla. One face has a scallop-shell design, a sign of pilgrimage

Medieval lead pilgrims ampullae with flower pattern. East Anglia type many made at Walsingham

Double V, for Virgo Virginum, Virgin of Virgins, indicating Mary, Mother of God, and forming the W of Walsingham. (The VV symbol has also been used widely as an apotropaic device in house protection.)

Pilgrim ampullae - holly water bottle made of lead 12th to 15thC, Scallop shell type with merchant shield on reverse

Pilgrim ampullae

Pilgrim ampullae

Pilgrim ampullae - holly water bottle made of lead 12th to 15thC,

The reverse face is convex and decorated with a compass-drawn four-petalled flower; each petal containing an internal linear rib.

The obverse face is flat and is decorated with a shield in cast relief.

Medieval 'Norfolk type' lead Pilgrim's Ampullae - Fleur de lis and crown

Many ampullae used the pre-eminent pilgrimage symbol of the scallop shell, as with the Norfolk example . Although most closely linked to the shrine of St. James at Santiago de Compostela, the scallop was a symbol of renewal and regeneration before Christianity. Beginning with representations of Venus, it became commonplace in Roman architecture and on sarcophagi

Medieval badges Ref Mitchiner p244 939 - 941

Badge still in its plate before trimming

'A badge for a Knight of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre in bronze and dating somewhere around C13/14th possibly very slightly later . This is a very scarce item and it relates to The Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem being a Catholic chivalric order of Knighthood that traces its roots to Godfrey of Bouillon, principal leader of the First Crusade. According to reliable sources in the Vatican and Jerusalem, it began in historical reality as a mixed clerical and lay confraternity (association) of pilgrims which gradually grew around the most central of the Christian holy places in the Middle East, the Holy Sepulchre or the tomb of Jesus Christ.This would have been a pin for a member of the order , there is a mark on the reverse where the original pin would have been fixed '

Circa 1485 - 1540

Sheet copper-alloy mount or badge of cross-crosslet shape; turned-over edges The reverse shows evidence of a central soldered attachment, which is now missing.

Crosses

Simply stunning chunky early medieval gold decorated bronze cross pendant - The gold pin decoration is very interesting as it probably riveted a central inlaid emblem which is now missing- one for the museum to play with

18.76g, 41.18 mm L x 6.73 mm T

Reliquary cross pendant of probable Late Medieval to Post Medieval date, about AD 1400 - 1600.

Late medieval gilded cross pendant

The object appears to be a Christian equivalent to the hammer pendants favoured by adherents of Thor, and is perhaps contemporary with such objects. Suggested date: Early Medieval, 800-950.

A Modern cast copper alloy crucifix, probably dating to circa AD 1800-1900. The object is in the form of a cross with a moulded depiction of Christ on one face and Madonna with child on the opposing face. The depictions are mounted on a four-lobed cross with a large possible flower motif behind. Each arm of the cross terminates with a trefoil knop. The uppermost terminal also has an additional pierced circular projection, possibly this was so the crucifix could be worn as a pendant.

Ref Unique ID: WMID-532B87

A 17th-century copper-alloy crucifix; one face with Christ on the cross, on the other side is the Virgin Mary holding the Christ Child. The ends of the cross terminate in quatrefoils within which are letters.The heads of Christ and Mary are within the quatrefoils - these are surrounded by fleur-de-lis. The crucifix is worn and the top is broken where the suspension loop would have been, perhaps intended for a rosary. Similar example at National Museum of Scotland NMS KE8.

A complete Medieval copper-alloy pendant in the form of a crucifix (c. 1300-c. 1500).

The cross pattée has a suspension loop at the top. On the front is a moulded figure of Jesus nailed to the cross. The back has a moulded figure of Mary.

This pendant is reddish brown.

Ref Unique ID: IOW-706880

Medieval lead cross

Medallions/Pendants

15th/16thC religious pendant

IHS: dating from the 8th c., this is an abbreviation for "IHESUS," the way Christ's Name was spelled in the Middle Ages (despite popular belief, the monogram stands neither for "Iesus Hominum Salvator" --"Jesus Saviour of Men" -- nor for "In His Service.") Popularized by St. Bernardine of Siena, the monogram was later used by St. Ignatius of Loyola as a symbol for the Jesuit Order.

The IHS monogram is an abbreviation or shortening of Jesus' name in Greek to the first three letters. Thus ΙΗΣΟΥΣ, ιησυς (iēsus, "Jesus"), is shortened to ΙΗΣ (iota-eta-sigma), sometimes transliterated into Latin or English characters as IHS or ΙΗC.

The symbol is said to appear rarely in the catacombs, only in the catacomb of Priscilla and the atrium of the Capella Gr�ca (Greek Chapel).1 It was popularized in the fifteenth century, however, by Franciscan disciple Bernadine of Sienna as a symbol of peace. In 1541 St. Ignatius Loyola adopted the symbol with three nails below and surrounded by the sun as the seal of the Jesuit order.

Contrary to some authors, the monogram originally stood for neither for Iesus Hominum Salvator ("Jesus Savior of Men") nor for "In His Service." Some attribute its origin to Constantine's vision, where he saw a cross with the inscription "In hoc signo vinces" ("in this sign you shall conquer,"2 which is abbreviated, according to them, as IHS. However, this seems to require a stretch, as do claims that it is really a pagan symbol. The simplest explanation, as an abbreviation of Jesus' name, is best.

Late medieval gilded cross pendant

The object appears to be a Christian equivalent to the hammer pendants favoured by adherents of Thor, and is perhaps contemporary with such objects. Suggested date: Early Medieval, 800-950.