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Post-Medieval silver reliquary pendant
Silver gilt devotional reliquary pendant of rounded arched niche form, with one hinged door with hinge on the right, opened by removing pin which slides through retaining tubes on the left side of the pendant. These mirror the appearance of the hinge on the right.
The front of the door has a damaged openwork panel in its centre. Two cast haloed figures kneel within a beaded circular frame: the one on the left appears to be praying, the one on the right appears to have arms crossing their chest. When pendant is closed, the small figures appear to flank a central figure visible within the pendant. The main external faces of the pendant, front and back are filled with engraved motifs. Flower motifs fill the corners of both faces. On the front, an angel with wings outspread sits slightly off-centre above the circular frame in the top panel.
The back is engraved with a scene from the Passion of Christ within a plain circular frame. The knotted rope binding Christ (scourge?) is depicted wrapped around the lower shaft of the cross, which has schematised rendering of wood grain and knotting. Engraved flowers fill the lower corners, while the head of bearded Christ in Majesty, flanked by John(left) and ?Mary (right) or angels, fill the upper panel. When the pendant is opened, a Trinity of haloed saints, each standing on a small pedestal, is revealed. The central figure is John the Baptist, whose head is inclined to his right. His long hair extends below the shoulders, and he appears to wear a long cloak. Some of the moulding suggests camel-hair robes below his knee. John holds his emblum, an Agnus Dei (Lamb of God) on a book (?) (John I:36), to which his right hand appears to be pointing.
To John's left is St Catherine, supporting her symbols-a broken wheel in her right hand, an a tall martyr's palm leaf in her left hand. To John's right stands Mary Magdelene. Tresses of her long hair are suggested between the fingers of her right hand, and she holds a cylindrical ointment jar in her left hand, symbolising the popular belief about her anointing the feet of Christ with ointment and wiping them with the long hair. Transverse moulding on the jar resembles the turned decoration found on other representations of ointment jars. The suspension loop is missing from the attachment lug and appears to have been lost in antiquity.
This pendant was a devotional aid. It shows John the Baptist, Mary Magdalene and St Catherine and is from about 1500.
LI1.7
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Find Information
Site Name: Kilgetty, Pembrokeshire
Notes: Found whilst metal detecting on cultivated land. The object was found at a depth of about 11cm. The same field has produced coins ranging in date from Edward II ( 1284-1327) to Charles 1 (1600-49) , but these have no discernible association with the pendant.
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