Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T08:24:49.479Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Ladies Hunting: A Late Medieval Decorated Mirror Case from Shapwick, Somerset

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2008

Eleanor Standley
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, Durham University, South Road, Durham DH1 3LE, UK. E-mail: .

Abstract

This paper examines a later medieval small find excavated from Shapwick, Somerset. A multi-disciplinary approach is taken to understand the use of the decorated object, identified as a mirror case, and its symbolic meaning as a possible love when. Comparisons are made with other finds of metal mirror cases from mainland Britain and ivory examples from the Continent with depictions of hunting scenes. The imagery of hunting and hawking is discussed in relation to contemporary material culture in order to identify the socio-cultural significance of this activity and the mirror case.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Alexander, J and Binski, P (eds) 1987. Age of Chivalry: art in Plantagenet England 1200–1400, LondonGoogle Scholar
Allason-Jones, L 1986. ‘Two medieval mirror boxes’, Archaeol Aeliana, 5th ser, 15, 179–80Google Scholar
Baillie-Grohman, W A 1896. Sport in the Alps in the Past and Present, LondonGoogle Scholar
Barnet, P (ed) 1997. Images in Ivory: precious objects of the Gothic age, DetroitGoogle Scholar
Bayley, J 1990. ‘Scientific examination and analysis of some medieval mirrors from Winchester’, in Biddle (ed) 1990, 657–8Google Scholar
Bayley, J, Drury, P and Spencer, B 1984. ‘A medieval mirror from Heybridge, Essex’, Antiq J, 64, 399420Google Scholar
Bec, P 1978. La Lyrique Française au Moyen Âge 12th–13th century, II, ParisGoogle Scholar
Biddle, M (ed) 1990. Object and Economy in Medieval Winchester: artefacts from medieval Winchester, Winchester Stud 7.2, OxfordGoogle Scholar
Biddle, M and Hinton, D A 1990. ‘Miscellaneous personalia and jewel stones’, in Biddle (ed) 1990, 653–7Google Scholar
Birch, W de G 1892. Catalogue of Seals in the Department of Manuscripts in the British Museum, II, LondonGoogle Scholar
Bliss, A J (ed) 1966. Sir Orfeo, OxfordGoogle Scholar
Bond, J 2004. Monastic Landscapes, StroudGoogle Scholar
Butler, L 1989. ‘Objects of metal, bone and clay’, in The Deserted Medieval Village of Thuxton, Norfolk (Butler, L and Wade-Martins, P), E Anglian Archaeol Rep 46, 3640, DerehamGoogle Scholar
Coke, J 1877. Le débat des hérauts d'armes de France et d'Angleterre. [The debate between the heralds of England and France] (eds Pannier, L and Meyer, P), ParisGoogle Scholar
Costen, M 2007. ‘Abbot Beere's terrier of 1515’, in Gerrard 2007b, 1061–71Google Scholar
Cummins, J 2001. The Hound and the Hawk: the art of medieval hunting, LondonGoogle Scholar
Dalby, D 1965. Lexicon of the Mediæval German Hunt: a lexicon of Middle High German terms (1050–1500) associated with the chase, hunting with bows, falconry, trapping, and fowling, BerlinGoogle Scholar
De Brézé, J 1959. La Chasse (ed Tilander, Gunner), Cynegetica 6, LundGoogle Scholar
De Chamerlat, C A 1987. Falconry and Art, LondonGoogle Scholar
Demay, G 1873. Inventaire des Sceaux de la Flandre, ParisGoogle Scholar
Egan, G 2007. ‘Later medieval non-ferrous metalwork and evidence for metal working: AD 1050–1100 to 1500–50’, in Meols: the archaeology of the north Wirral coast (Griffiths, D, Philpot, R A and Egan, G), 77187, OxfordGoogle Scholar
Egan, G and Pritchard, F 1991. Dress Accessories c 1150–c 1450, Medieval Finds Excav London 3, LondonGoogle Scholar
Ellis, R H and Cherry, J 1987. ‘The seal matrix of Elizabeth, Lady of Sevorc’, Antiq J, 67, 377–8Google Scholar
Gerrard, C 2007a. ‘Excavations in Shapwick village 1994–99’, in Gerrard 2007b, 449501Google Scholar
Gerrard, C with Aston, M 2007b. The Shapwick Project, Somerset: a rural landscape explored, Soc Medieval Archaeol Monogr 25, LeedsGoogle Scholar
Green, J 2000. ‘The sempster's ware: merchandising and marrying in The Fair Maid of the Exchange (1607)’, Renaissance Q, 53, 1084–118CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hall, M A and Owen, D D R 1998. ‘A Tristram and Iseult mirror-case from Perth’, Tayside Fife Archaeol J, 4, 150–65Google Scholar
Haskins, C H 1921. ‘The De Arte Venandi cum Avibus of the Emperor Frederick II’, Engl Hist Rev, 36, 334–55CrossRefGoogle Scholar
John of Salisbury 1972. Frivolities of Courtiers and Footprints of Philosophers (trans Pike, J B), New YorkGoogle Scholar
Johnson, B, Fletcher, J and Beaumont, F 1811. The Dramatic Works of Ben Johnson, and Beaumont and Fletcher In Four Volumes, III, London.Google Scholar
Krueger, I 1990. ‘Glasspiegel im Mittelalter, Fakten, Funde, und Fragen’, Banner Jahrbucher, 190, 233313Google Scholar
Krueger, I 1995. ‘Glasspiegel im Mittelalter II, Neu funden und neu fragen’, Banner Jahrbucher, 195, 209–48Google Scholar
López de Ayala, P 1986. Libra de la Caça de las Aves, LondonGoogle Scholar
Lopez, R S and Raymond, I W 1955. Medieval Trade in the Mediterranean World: illustrative documents translated with introduction and notes, LondonGoogle Scholar
Margeson, S M 1984. ‘A mirror-case from Bradwell’, Norfolk Archaeol, 39, 217–18Google Scholar
Margeson, S M 1993. Norwich Households: the medieval and post-medieval finds from Norwich survey excavations 1971–1978, NorwichGoogle Scholar
Menéndez Pidal, R 1980. Reliquías de la poesía épica española; acompañadas de Epopeya y romancero, I (introduction by Diego Catalán), MadridGoogle Scholar
Mills, J M 1995, ‘Objects of copper alloy’, in Tattenhoe & Westbury: two deserted medieval settlements in Milton Keynes (Ivens, R J, Busby, P and Shepherd, N), Buckinghamshire Archaeol Soc Monogr Ser 8, 343–58, AylesburyaGoogle Scholar
Nicholas, D 1979. ‘The English trade at Bruges in the last years of Edward III’, J Medieval Hist, 5, 2361CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oggins, R S 2004. The Kings and Their Hawks: falconry in medieval England, New HavenCrossRefGoogle Scholar
O'Hara, D 2000. Courtship and Constraint: rethinking the making of marriage in Tudor England, ManchesterGoogle Scholar
Portable Antiquities Scheme nd. Finds database, <http://finds.org.uk/finds> (29 05 2008)+(29+052008)>Google Scholar
Randall, R H Jr, 1989. ‘Medieval ivories in the Romance tradition’, Gesta, 28, 3040CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Randall, R H Jr, 1997. ‘Games on a medieval ivory’, Rec Art Mus Princeton Univ, 56, 29Google Scholar
Redknap, M 2001. ‘Objects of copper alloy’, in Investigations along Monnow Street, Monmouth (ed Marvell, A G), BAR Brit Ser 320, 6772, OxfordGoogle Scholar
Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg nd. ‘Late medieval illustrated manuscripts from the Bibliotheca Palatina-digitized’, <http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de> (25 07 2008)+(25+072008)>Google Scholar
Spencer, B 1998. Pilgrim Souvenirs and Secular Badges, Medieval Finds Excav London 7, LondonGoogle Scholar
Thiébaux, M 1967. ‘The mediaeval chase’, Speculum, 42, 260–74CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tilander, G 1932. Les Livres du Roy Modus et de la Royne Ratio, ParisGoogle Scholar
Viner, L 2007. ‘Metalwork’, in Gerrard 2007b, 734–60Google Scholar
Williams, G 1994. Dictionary of Sexual Language and Imagery in Shakespearean and Stuart Literature, III, London.Google Scholar