VESSEL 854574

Description: A late post-medieval (1800-1900) hollow-cast copper alloy right hand emerging from a sleeve, a glass receptacle terminal probably as part of an epergne or similar. The hand is solid and consists of a thumb and four fingers with U-shaped grooves and flattened areas to define the nails. The index finger has a raised, worn area towards its base, the patina showing as a brighter, brassier colour than the rest of the object. To the underside of the hand is a circular scar with a trace of iron corrosion at its centre, presumably a fixing point to the epergne. The sleeve flares from the wrist (16.3x16.4mm) to the open end (25.4x24.2mm; internal 19.9x17.4mm). The wrist is flanked by zig-zag edging, the 'fabric' of the sleeve being decorated with vertical striations. A band above this consists of a trio of raised ribs with a pair of rosettes at the centre. Beyond, and leading to the open-end, are further vertical striations. This is interrupted just before the open-end by a transverse line of four square-shaped grooves (to the front) overlaid with (and encircling the object) a line of zig-zag with a punched annulet inside each resulting point in the lower half. The underside of the object has a flattened area running from the palm of the hand to the open end, c.8mm wide. At the open end is an in situ iron rivet 4.5mm in diameter. Inside the object there are traces of a lumpy-in-form and off-white/ yellowy -coloured substance. The object measures 59.9mm in length, 25.4mm in max.width, 24.2mm in max.thickness and weighs 42.48g. Another object of this type can be seen in record KENT-D14775. This example retains a blue-coloured glass plug within the socket. Read (1988, 197-8; 1394) identifies a left-hand version of this object type as a terminal for a 19th century fluted glass French vase. He notes that the index finger-ring is surmounted with a lozenge-shaped finger-ring.

Date: 1800 - 1900

Object type: VESSEL

Last import: August 15, 2017