Summary

Oval brass seal matrix and impression, showing Virgin and Child, from Gattonside, near Melrose

Accession Number

H.NM 116

Other references

None

Original description

SEALS AND STAMPS. Oval brass seal, virgin and Child, underneath, monk in adoration, CVLPIS HELIE PARCITO XPE P., from Gattonside, near Melrose. Impression.//T. Deniozou note, 2011-03-04, 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] //The pointed oval seal matrix shows a half-length Virgin wearing a crown holding the Child in her left arm. Underneath is the head and shoulders of a praying monk (?) in profile facing left, below a trilobate arch. The inscription, between beaded borders, is crudely engraved, as are the figures.//The handle is a central shallow spine, having an oval loop with a round hole at the top.//Gattonside was a grange of the immensely wealthy abbey of Melrose sited just across the river Tweed from the main buildings. Elias, from the quality of his matrix and the absence of a letter ‘f’ for frater (cf J12) or the word monachi (cf J13), was probably a lay brother with some official function such as cellarer, which required him to have a seal in order to transact abbey business.//NOTES:1 PSAS, vol XXI, 1887, 202.//2 NMAS 1892, 370.

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

Virgin and Child

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

1887

Acquisition source (i.e. name of donor)

Unknown

Acquisition source role (e.g. donor)

Not recorded

Image

None