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Shield brooch

Shield brooch

  • Place of origin:

    England, Great Britain (possibly, made)
    France (possibly, made)

  • Date:

    c. 1400 (made)

  • Artist/Maker:

    unknown (production)

  • Materials and Techniques:

    Gold, engraved

  • Credit Line:

    Given by Dame Joan Evans

  • Museum number:

    M.37-1975

  • Gallery location:

    Jewellery, room 91, case 6, shelf C, box 5

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The small size of this brooch, and the inscription (abcd is my lesson) suggest it was made for a child. Children wore the same types and styles of jewellery as their parents, and wealthy children were often just as lavishly dressed. French was the language of the court, and would have been fairly widely understood and spoken by the elite in medieval Europe.

Physical description

Brooch, gold, in the form of a shield. The shield is engraved with a cross-hatched border and a cross-hatched bend dexter. Engraved in French in black letter script on the border cest / ma / le / con and on the bend abcd' ('ABCD c'est ma lecon: My lesson is ABCD'). The syllables of the inscription in the border are separated by quatrefoils.The small size of this brooch and the inscription suggest it was made for a child. the upper right corner broken off and reattached. The plain back with remains of a fastening.

Place of Origin

England, Great Britain (possibly, made)
France (possibly, made)

Date

c. 1400 (made)

Artist/maker

unknown (production)

Materials and Techniques

Gold, engraved

Marks and inscriptions

'cest / ma / le / con
abcd (ABCD c'est ma lecon: My lesson is ABCD').

Dimensions

Height: 3.3 cm, Width: 3.2 cm

Descriptive line

Gold child's brooch in the form of a shield, engraved with cross-hatching and inscribed 'ABCD is my lesson'. England or France, about 1400.

Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)

Lightbown, Ronald. Medieval European Jewellery: with a catalogue of the collection in the Victoria & Albert Museum. London: Victoria & Albert Museum, 1992. cat. 20. p. 497.
Campbell, Marian, Medieval Jewellery in Europe 1100-1500, London, V&A Publishing, 2009, p. 38, fig. 36

Materials

Gold

Techniques

Engraving

Subjects depicted

Quatrefoils; Childhood

Categories

Metalwork; Jewellery

Collection code

MET

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Qr_O15210
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