Summary

Hasp of a coffer of gilded copper and champleve enamel, from Wauchope, near Langholm, 13th century

Accession Number

H.KJ 88

Other references

Original description

T. Deniozou note, 2011-01-28, Information taken from Glenn, Virginia, Romanesque & Gothic: Decorative Metalwork and Ivory Carvings in the Museum of Scotland, NMSE Publishing, Edinburgh, 2003: [One of] B1, C42, 41-2 [Angels, Nobles and Unicorns reference] //Enamelled Hasp of a coffer, Wauchope, Dumfries-shire. Caption note, March 1993: Hasp of a coffer of copper, gilded, and champleve enamel, from Wauchope, near Langholm. (13th century).//Four winged lizards with lapis lazuli gemstones for eyes form a hinged hasp for a casket. The upper part consists of a beast with a large square head, gilded and decorated on the neck with a central band of four engraved circles, between stripes of punched matting, holding the hinge in its wide bulbous jaws. Its wings, which are folded over its high convex back, are indicated by long stripes of blue champlevé enamel, with an oval panel of yellowish green on each shoulder. The serpent’s body tapers to a gilt scrolled tail, the scales indicated by punching and enamel roundels (now lost).//From this emerges the gilt head of a smaller creature, similarly punched and engraved, curving to the right and holding in its jaws a scrolling three-petalled blossom, enamelled in yellowish green and red, with a central hole for a fixing to the casket.//The lower part has a broad-headed lizard facing downwards, its rectangular body ornamented with a lozenge pattern in blue enamel, its gilt head as before. It bites the tail of a longer slimmer serpent with wings as above and a small gilt head on a long neck, stretching below the fastening for the lock. On the reverse of the upper part is a thick copper-alloy pin designed to lodge into the lid of the casket. The reverse of the lower part is gilt and has a rectangular loop to fit into a lockplate.//Langholm was a remote Borders area virtually undocumented before the 1280s when the Lindsay family gained possession of the lordship, which they held continuously until 1707.2 One glimpse of contact between the area and the outer world comes in 1333 when Edward III granted the locals a safe-conduct ‘because they have frequent occasion to come to England to buy provisions’.3 It is worth noting that Limoges and similar enamels have also been excavated around Carlisle, their nearest large town, perhaps indicating a merchant dealing in this material in the area.//A number of whole coffers survive with similar fittings. The nearest to C6 is in the Glencairn Museum at Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania (fig 16, page 41).4 Where these coffers are attributed to medieval owners, in some cases on convincing historical grounds, they were usually grand personages. For example, Cardinal Bicchieri’s was preserved at his cathedral at Vercelli until the 19th century;5 that of Richard of Cornwall, brother of Henry III of England, is still in the treasury at Aachen;6 and another in the Louvre was formerly kept at the abbey church of Notre-Dame de Lys, where it contained relics of St Louis, king of France.7//Although they all have entirely secular ornament, they were happily incorporated into church furnishings and our hasp could have come from a coffer belonging either to a local or passing nobleman or an important cleric on church business.//NOTES:1 PSAS, vol xxx, 7-9. // 2 Barrow 1992, 186. //3 Ibid, 179.//4 Paris 1995, no 38, 158-60. 5 Ibid, no 89, 282-5.// 6 Grimme 1972, no 52, 76-7, 254.//7 Paris 1995, no 124, 360-63.

Associated person/people (e.g. excavator/former collection)

None

Discovery / field collection

Date of discovery

Not recorded

Method (e.g. excavation)

Not recorded

Place (i.e. location of discovery)

Grid reference

Not recorded

Acquisition

Acquisition date

1895

Acquisition source (i.e. name of donor)

Unknown

Acquisition source role (e.g. donor)

Not recorded

Image