[Scottish National Memorials Contents]
LION-SHAPED EWER, the Manilium of the Middle Ages. These vessels (64 and 64A) are fully figured and described by Dr. Joseph Anderson in Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot., 1878, vol. xiii. p. 48.
(64A) Lent by JOHN KIRSOP.
EWER of Brass, three-footed, with looped side-handle and spout, found near Luncarty, Perthshire.
(71) Lent by the LITERARY AND ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY OF PERTH.
BRASS EWER, similar to the above, found near Caerlaverock Castle, Dumfries, about the year 1868.
(63) Lent by J. B. A. MCKINNEL.
EWER OR MANILIUM, of Brass, in the form of a lion, which was dug up at Pollok, Renfrewshire, in the early part of the present century. The fore-legs are broken off, one wanting. It is a form of utensil which was in general use from the tenth till the sixteenth century, for
holding water with which to purity the hands of the priest previous to his touching the consecrated bread in administering the Sacrament of the Holy Communion. (See Fig. 30.)
(64) Lent by SIR JOHN STIRLING MAXWELL, BART.
BRASS EWER from the South of Scotland.
(55) Lent by WELLWOOD H. MAXWELL.
The vessels, Nos. 71, 63, and 55, with handle and spout, the latter strengthened by a cross-attachment to the body, coming from different parts of the country, are very like each other in form and size. They are the domestic representatives of the manilia previously described, and were used in conjunction with large basins of similar material for pouring water over the hands of the guests at table. They went out of use with the introduction of knives and forks, but both the custom and the pouring vessel, shaped like a coffee-pot, survive in the domestic arrangements of Oriental households.
TWO BRASS TRIPOD POTS found in the neighbourhood of Dumfries about the early part of this century.
(56) Lent by J. B. A. MCKINNEL.
LARGE BRASS THREE-FOOTED COOKING POT, found on the farm of Newton, Loudon, Ayrshire.
(60) Lent by LORD DONINGTON.
BRASS-HANDLED POT, in the form of a Saucepan, which was found inside the large pot (No. 60).
(61) Lent by LORD DONINGTON.
BRASS THREE-FOOTED POT turned up by the plough near the site of Edingham Castle, parish of Urr, Kirkcudbright, in May 1852. From the Collection of Joseph Train, Kirkcudbright. It stands 7 ½ inches high, and is 5 ½ inches diameter across the mouth.
(66) Lent by MRS. DRYDEN.
BRASS THREE-FOOTED POT found in Mill Street, Perth, which had been imperfectly cast, and appears not to have been used. It was presented by Robert Pullar to the
(69) LITERARY AND ANTIQUARIAN SOCIETY OF PERTH.
BRASS THREE-FOOTED POT found in the vicinity of the Camp near Meikleour, Perthshire.
(70) Lent by W. MURRAY THREIPLAND.
These cart cooking-vessels, Nos. 56, 60, 61, 66, 69, and 70, principally of brass or of mixed metal, were in former days popularly spoken of as Roman remains, and called Caldrons, Camp Kettles, and Wine Jugs, or by such other terms as appeared to fit the form of the utensil. It is, however, certain that they are of mediæval and more recent origin, and were indeed the cooking vessels of the people till the time that manufactures of cast-iron supplanted them. It was not till towards the end of the seventeenth century that the art of iron-founding was introduced into Scotland, and the great Carron Works, which still exist, were founded only in 1760 by Dr. John Roebuck and his associates. Pots and other vessels of brass have been found in considerable numbers throughout Scotland and in the northern parts of England, and the comparatively limited number of types in which they were cast is manifest on comparing the examples preserved in public collections. It is in pots of this character that hidden hoards of mediæval coins are occasionally found.
THE DOUGLAS CLEPHANE HORN. This horn (see Pl. 1), which has been in the possession of the Clephanes of Kirkness and Carslogie, Fifeshire, from time immemorial, is of ivory, 22 ¼ inches in greatest length, and 14 inches in circumference at 2 ½ inches from the broad end, and the small end 3 ½ inches in circumference. At the broad end there is an irregular-shaped piece 4 ½ inches in length by 2 ½ inches in greatest breadth, broken off, while on the inner side the horn is imperfect, and split continuously along its entire length.
For convenience of description the horn may be divided into three parts – (1) The bands of ornamentation round the broad end, consisting of leaf-scrolls, animals, etc.; (2) The centre or main panel, containing four rows of human and animal figures; and (3) The bands of ornamentation round the neck or narrow end.
1. (a) A narrow band of acanthus leaf-like ornament; (b) a row of small circles with a narrow plain border on each side; (c) a band 1 ¼ inch in width filled with animals, etc., viz., a griffin; a tree; two sphinxes facing each other, a tree between them; a fox running, with his head turned back over his shoulder; a tree; a boar running; a lion crouching with his forefeet on the hind part of a deer’s body. The end of the tail and the head of the lion, and the head and fore part of the body of the deer are broken away, (d) Another row of small circles with a plain narrow band on each side; (e) a wavy running scroll of foliaceous ornament, bordered on each side by a narrow fillet, along the centre of which is a row of small dots; (f) a plain band around which has been fastened the suspending strap, now covered by a hoop of silver; (g) another wavy running scroll of foliaceous ornament.
2. The second division, containing the centre or principal part of the horn, may be divided into four rows as follows:-
The first row, which contains (a) a square tower of three stories with high pitched roof, door on the ground floor, two windows on the second, and one on the third; (b) two charioteers wearing helmets, each in a chariot drawn by four horses; (c) another tower, the same as before; (d) other two charioteers as before.
The second row apparently contains a representation of a hunt – (a) a hare running; (b) a man on horseback with his right hand raised to his head; (c) a dog (?) catching a hare; (d) a tree or bush; (e) a man on horseback with a whip in his right hand; (f) a horseman represented as falling off his horse to the ground, head first; (g) a dog running; (h) a man on horseback holding a whip in his right hand and looking backwards, while his left hand is extended below his horse’s neck to grasp the reins; (i) a dog running at a deer which is also about to be seized behind by another hound (?); (j) a tree or bush.
The third row appears to represent dancers and wrestlers – (a) two men who seem to be wrestling with each other; (b) to the right of these are other two who are apparently pulling each other’s hair; (c) next four men who appear to be dancing – the figures of two of them imperfect owing to the fracture in the horn.
In the fourth row, next to the fracture, is – (a) part of a man’s arm and hand holding a club, the head of which has a large round knob; (b) a man who appears to be dancing; (c) a man on horseback holding a whip in his right hand and a circular object in his left. Sitting upright on the horse’s haunches is an animal with a long tail and large claws; (d) a man wearing a high conical hat, and holding a stag in leash with his left hand; (e) figure of a man, imperfect.
3. The ornamentation on the neck or narrow end of the horn is a repetition of two of the patterns on the wide end, viz. – (a) a narrow fillet, along the centre of which is a row of small dots; (b) a band of scanthus leaf-like ornament; (c) a plain band for the suspending strap now covered with a silver hoop; (d) a third band of scanthus leaf-like ornament.
Several Oliphants1 or large horns of ivory of similar character have been figured and described, among which may be mentioned – (1) The so-called horn of Ulphus, preserved in the Cathedral of York, described in the Archæologia, vol. i. pp. 187-202, figured in the Vetusta Monumenta, vol. i. pl. ii., and in Scott’s Antiquarian Gleanings in the North of England, pl. xv.; (2) Lord Bruce’s horn, described in the Archæologia, vol. iii. pp. 24-29, and figured on pl. vi. Another horn of nearly the same form as Lord Bruce’s, but with different ornamentation, is figured in Cahier and Martin’s Nouveaux Mélanges d’Archéologie, vol. ii. p. 51, where also are four other horns, one belonging to the town of Angers (p. 36), the other in a private collection in Metz (p. 43), one belonging to Winchester (p. 41), and another called the ‘Warder’s horn or the Castle of Winchester,’ but which is properly an unfinished drawing of the Clephane Hom. Two other horns, but apparently of much later date, are preserved in the Russian Imperial Museum. – Notice sur le Musée de Tsarkoé-selo, pp. 69,70. In the Miscellanea Graphica by Fairholt and Wright, pl. xii., there is a finely carved hunting-horn of ivory, said to be of the fourteenth century, and somewhat similar to one in the National Museum of Antiquities, Edinburgh. Three ivory horns in the South Kensington Museum are described in the ‘Catalogue of Ivories Ancient and Mediæval,’ pp. 35-37, ranging in date from the eleventh to the fifteenth century. The Clephane hom is also figured and described in Sir Walter Scott’s Border Antiquities, vol. ii. p. 206.
(121) Lent by the MARQUIS OF NORTHAMPTON.
THE IRON HAND OF THE DOUGLAS CLEPHANES OF CARSLOGIE. The length of the hand, which is a left one, is seven inches, breadth at the junction of the fingers 3 ¼ inches, while the fingers themselves, four in number, are 2 ¾, 3, 3, and 3 ⅜ inches in length. The mechanism by which the fingers were held firm in any position is simple. On the inner side the fingers at the junction with the hand are slightly toothed like cog-wheels, and against each finger a catchpin was held by a steel spring, thus retaining them in a closed position. To release the catchpins the lever shown in the engraving of the inner ride of the hand was pressed down, thus raising the back ends of the catchpins and releasing the fingers to bring them into an extended position. At present the points of the catchpins are much worn, the one on the extreme left being the only one now fit for use. One of the springs is also wanting. (See Fig. 32.)
At the wrist the hand was attached to a light framework of iron (see Fig. 31) which embraced the arm as high as the elbow. A hand with an arm of more complicated mechanism in the Meyrick Collection, and assigned to the sixteenth century, is figured on pl. lxvii. of Skelton’s Ancient Arms and Armour. In the Museum of Sigmaringen is another hand attributed to Göts or Gottfried of Berlichingen, who died in 1562; and there is another in the National Museum of Munich. It is also figured and alluded to by Sir Walter Scott, in his Border Antiquities, vol. ii. p. 206.
These relics – the horn and iron hand – came into possession of the Northampton family through the marriage of the father of the present Marquis with Margaret, daughter of General Douglas-Maclean Clephane. The Marquis of Northampton is now the representative of the ancient Scottish family of Clephane.
(122) Lent by the MARQUIS OF NORTHAMPTON.
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1 Oliphant, another form of elephant. An oliphant is the tip end of an elephant’s tusk hollowed out. OLIFANT in old French meant ivory. It is the specific name given to Roland’s Horn in the Chanson de Roland.
