St. James's Auctions
Auction 49 5 Oct 2021
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Copper alloy disc, engraved thick disc, engraved legend in 15th or 16th century script appearing to read 1490 HENRICUS DEI GRA REX ANGLIE FRANC DUX LAN, crowned horse's head and floppy frond, with a line on the reverse that may represent the remains of a handle
This (or a very similar object) was found in Southwold Suffolk in the first half of the 18th century. Thomas Gardner, the historian of Dunwich, mentioned and illustrated the face in his History of Dunwich in 1754. [See Thomas Gardner, History of Dunwich. 1754, p. 214, foot note 2. 'This Seal with the Horſe's Head, inſcribed Henricus Dei Gra. Rex Anglie et Franc. Dux Lan. 1490, was found at Southwold. The Front thereof was deaurated, and the Reverſe adorn'd with a Plate of Silver, and bearing Date with this Corporation's firſt Charter, requires a serious conſideration to judge of its Propriety.]
It passed into the Tyssen collection and by 1857 was in the possession of Mr. Hankinson of Southampton, (see Archaeological Journal, XIV (1857), p. 77).
In 1882 the collection of Mr. Hankinson was shown at the Society of Antiquaries and this object was included with the following comments from Mr Perceval. (Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries, 2nd series, 8 (1882), p. 483).
'It is a circular plate of metal, 2 and a half inches in diameter, showing at the back, which is flat, some trace of solder, as if to secure a ridge handle. The subject is a horse's head, couped, bridled, and crowned with a coronet of three fleurs-de-lis and two crosslets. In the sinister field, an ostrich feather, bent back on the quill in an inartistic way. There is a star above and below the bridle at the side of the horse's neck, and another one somewhat larger below it. The ground behind these stars is pounced. The legend in Gothic minuscules, beginning in an unusual place, viz., to the left of the crown, runs thus: hen[crown]ricus dei gra rex anglie et francie 1490. The execution is not good; the letters of the legend are ill-drawn, and to some extent blundered. It is difficult, indeed impossible, to believe that this was ever an official seal. At the same time I do not think it was a forgery of the last century, contrived to take in Mr. Gardner, or some brother collector, for a forger of that period would scarcely have hit on the mediaeval forms of the Arabic numerals as correctly as he has done. It may have been an idle piece of work of some apprentice.'
Clearly made before 1754, both Gardner and Perceval were puzzled by it. It is not an official seal matrix and it is doubtful if it functioned as a seal matrix at all. Today there is no trace of any gilding on the front or silvering on the back. The design appears to be making a satirical comment on King Henry, and the obvious butt of such a comment would have been Henry VI, but by 1490, he had been dead for 19 years. It is a curiosity that remains a puzzle.
This collection of seal matrices was accumulated by A. H. Baldwin & Sons over many years. There is apparently no record of where or from whom they were acquired, or their previous history. These entries were compiled on the advice of a leading consultant in the history of sigillography.
Seal matrices are notorious for being copied and forged. Copying began in the early 16th century and continued until the 19th century when the production of copies and forged items reached its climax. The subject may be studied in the following:
Dominique Delgrange 'Matrices de Sceaux: Copies Imitations Faux ou Pastiches 'in Pourquoi les Sceaux? eds. Marc Gil et Jean-Luc Chassel, (Lille 2014), pp. 61-91. This is particularly useful for an analysis of the handle types on false matrices in Planche 2.
Ambre Vilain, Matrices de Sceaux du Moyen Âge, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris 2017.
A recent study of part of this process is the article by John Cherry 'Metal casts of Seals : Some early impressions' in Le sceau dans les Pays- Bas méridonaux, Xe- XVIe siècles, eds. M. Libert and J. F. Nieus (Brussels 2017), pp. 11-21.
The terminology used here is based on those studies.
An original engraved matrix is of the date suggested, while a reproduction matrix has been produced by moulding around either a genuine wax seal or a mould of a seal. The wax seals or mould may or may not be original.
A false matrix is engraved with the intention of deception. Sometimes they were created before 1800, and described as pre-1800 false matrix. After 1800 they are catalogued as '19th century in the style of a previous century'. False matrices can be either engraved or moulded, or a combination of the two.
Many of the matrices in lots 1169-1171 may have come from the Tyssen/Hankinson collection. In 1882 C. S. Perceval commented that a proportion of this collection resembled those in the collection of Dr. Richard Rawlinson (died 1755) now in the Ashmolean Museum. Since lot 1187 is likely to have come from the Tyssen/Hankinson collection, Lots 1169-1171 and other Italian 17th century and 18th century seals in this sale may have done so as well. For the Rawlinson collection see John Cherry, Richard Rawlinson and his Seal Matrices: Collecting in the early eighteenth century, (Ashmolean Museum, Oxford) 2014.
Viewing is strongly advised for the pieces in this collection.
(1000-3000 GBP)
This (or a very similar object) was found in Southwold Suffolk in the first half of the 18th century. Thomas Gardner, the historian of Dunwich, mentioned and illustrated the face in his History of Dunwich in 1754. [See Thomas Gardner, History of Dunwich. 1754, p. 214, foot note 2. 'This Seal with the Horſe's Head, inſcribed Henricus Dei Gra. Rex Anglie et Franc. Dux Lan. 1490, was found at Southwold. The Front thereof was deaurated, and the Reverſe adorn'd with a Plate of Silver, and bearing Date with this Corporation's firſt Charter, requires a serious conſideration to judge of its Propriety.]
It passed into the Tyssen collection and by 1857 was in the possession of Mr. Hankinson of Southampton, (see Archaeological Journal, XIV (1857), p. 77).
In 1882 the collection of Mr. Hankinson was shown at the Society of Antiquaries and this object was included with the following comments from Mr Perceval. (Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries, 2nd series, 8 (1882), p. 483).
'It is a circular plate of metal, 2 and a half inches in diameter, showing at the back, which is flat, some trace of solder, as if to secure a ridge handle. The subject is a horse's head, couped, bridled, and crowned with a coronet of three fleurs-de-lis and two crosslets. In the sinister field, an ostrich feather, bent back on the quill in an inartistic way. There is a star above and below the bridle at the side of the horse's neck, and another one somewhat larger below it. The ground behind these stars is pounced. The legend in Gothic minuscules, beginning in an unusual place, viz., to the left of the crown, runs thus: hen[crown]ricus dei gra rex anglie et francie 1490. The execution is not good; the letters of the legend are ill-drawn, and to some extent blundered. It is difficult, indeed impossible, to believe that this was ever an official seal. At the same time I do not think it was a forgery of the last century, contrived to take in Mr. Gardner, or some brother collector, for a forger of that period would scarcely have hit on the mediaeval forms of the Arabic numerals as correctly as he has done. It may have been an idle piece of work of some apprentice.'
Clearly made before 1754, both Gardner and Perceval were puzzled by it. It is not an official seal matrix and it is doubtful if it functioned as a seal matrix at all. Today there is no trace of any gilding on the front or silvering on the back. The design appears to be making a satirical comment on King Henry, and the obvious butt of such a comment would have been Henry VI, but by 1490, he had been dead for 19 years. It is a curiosity that remains a puzzle.
This collection of seal matrices was accumulated by A. H. Baldwin & Sons over many years. There is apparently no record of where or from whom they were acquired, or their previous history. These entries were compiled on the advice of a leading consultant in the history of sigillography.
Seal matrices are notorious for being copied and forged. Copying began in the early 16th century and continued until the 19th century when the production of copies and forged items reached its climax. The subject may be studied in the following:
Dominique Delgrange 'Matrices de Sceaux: Copies Imitations Faux ou Pastiches 'in Pourquoi les Sceaux? eds. Marc Gil et Jean-Luc Chassel, (Lille 2014), pp. 61-91. This is particularly useful for an analysis of the handle types on false matrices in Planche 2.
Ambre Vilain, Matrices de Sceaux du Moyen Âge, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris 2017.
A recent study of part of this process is the article by John Cherry 'Metal casts of Seals : Some early impressions' in Le sceau dans les Pays- Bas méridonaux, Xe- XVIe siècles, eds. M. Libert and J. F. Nieus (Brussels 2017), pp. 11-21.
The terminology used here is based on those studies.
An original engraved matrix is of the date suggested, while a reproduction matrix has been produced by moulding around either a genuine wax seal or a mould of a seal. The wax seals or mould may or may not be original.
A false matrix is engraved with the intention of deception. Sometimes they were created before 1800, and described as pre-1800 false matrix. After 1800 they are catalogued as '19th century in the style of a previous century'. False matrices can be either engraved or moulded, or a combination of the two.
Many of the matrices in lots 1169-1171 may have come from the Tyssen/Hankinson collection. In 1882 C. S. Perceval commented that a proportion of this collection resembled those in the collection of Dr. Richard Rawlinson (died 1755) now in the Ashmolean Museum. Since lot 1187 is likely to have come from the Tyssen/Hankinson collection, Lots 1169-1171 and other Italian 17th century and 18th century seals in this sale may have done so as well. For the Rawlinson collection see John Cherry, Richard Rawlinson and his Seal Matrices: Collecting in the early eighteenth century, (Ashmolean Museum, Oxford) 2014.
Viewing is strongly advised for the pieces in this collection.
(1000-3000 GBP)