TimeLine Auctions Limited
Lot 477
14th century AD. An elaborate enamelled bronze swivelling horse-harness banneret with rectangular bifacial plaque and lateral tube; the heraldic design with monkey surrounded by foliage with red fruit. Cf. Ashley, S. Medieval Armorial Horse Furniture in Norfolk, East Anglian Archaeology 101, Dereham, 2002, item 238 for type, 243 for heraldry. Hammond, B. Benet's Medieval Artefacts of England & The United Kingdom, Witham, 2015, p.193, item HP-26758. Recorded with the Portable Antiquities Scheme with reference number NMS-9F6934; accompanied by a print out of the PAS report. 33 grams, 44mm (1 3/4"). Found Norwich, Norfolk, UK, in 1976. Bannerets are rectangular (or occasionally heater-shaped) plaques with the design repeated on both faces but reflected i.e. a lion rampant will face the leading edge on both sides of the plaque. They were used by noblemen entitled to bear heraldic arms on their own equipment, and by their liveried retainers. Pendants and bannerets bearing the royal arms were probably used by royal officials such as sheriffs, bailiffs and stewards, and by their attendants. Bannerets usually display an enamelled heraldic motif and the tube on the leading edge demonstrates that they were meant to be seen vertically (rather than hanging or swinging in the manner of harness pendants"). They were attached to the horse's bridle or harness by means of a bronze rod or spigot; one example from Norfolk (Ashley, 2002, no.242) retains this element. A 13th century bronze aquamanile in Florence (Ashley, 2002, plate V) depicts an English nobleman on horseback with heater-shaped harness pendants on the horse's chest and a short plume above the horse's arched neck; it is probable that the banneret was similarly mounted in this position where it could be clearly seen but would not impede the use of the reins. Bannerets probably fell into disuse with the introduction of the full heraldic caparison for the horse and the statutary limitations on the use of liveries by retainers in the 15th century AD. [No Reserve] Fine condition. Rare.
