Medieval Censer — Close Focus

My customary trawl through PAS records of similar finds to those I'm currently researching, turned up a surprisingly small quantity of actual censers or fragments thereof. There are a handful of fragments of them recorded and just the one complete hemisphere. 

Mostly, those items I viewed in these searches were items dubbed 'lamp hangers' and as backup, possibly 'censer hangers'. All possessed three suspension points for chains.

Censers of the middle Ages usually have four attachment points for chains but rarely three.  However, as mentioned, there is an example of a complete lid from Shropshire, England and this does indeed possess a complement of just three suspension lugs, and the British Museum keeps a complete Scandinavian example with the same arrangement, and so I suppose that 'censer hanger' may be correct in some cases.

It was a pretty fruitless search until I discovered the one intriguing item — certainly part of a censer — that did indeed seem to share some features with my own ~

Even extreme magnification does not help much here... 

This rim fragment from Mundham, Norfolk, has what looks to be a very similar style of incised decoration. Alas, there is not much information here to work with. Regretfully, it is in a parlous state, and I cannot work out much from what I can see of it. There is a band of running sinuous decoration at bottom for sure and what look to be the starting points of two semi-circular lines that may have formed complete semi-circular fields. 

Between these and above the suspension lug are four vertical lines that may have formed plant fronds or similar. To the right is geometrical decoration that is just too incomplete and unclear to comment on. The broken edges are so corroded and abraded that any traces of perforations are quite impossible to spot.

It's a shame that it is so badly preserved, but still, it is the closest English parallel I have yet found and it hails from a place not remotely distant from Mid-Essex...

This piece also shows me exactly what one of the suspension lugs of an 'English' censer would have looked like. This is of some use because my fragment does not possess one. It shows that it was cast integrally and not soldered or riveted on afterwards, as with many continental examples. 

As I am making a reconstruction of what may actually be an English production (its vigorous and unusual 'regional' decorative style is very suggestive of this possibility) rather than a French, German, or even Scandinavian import — I will certainly incorporate this detail.

Condition and its importance ~

I'd rather work a slow field that yields occasional finds in copper alloys but in excellent condition, than a fast and furious one where everything copper-based is shot through with corrosion. On such fields as those, you are going to have to be content with precious metal items, if there are enough there to make the exercise worthwhile.

Luckily, this piece (from a dead slow field) arrived in my hand in such great condition that really close investigation reveals all kinds of tiny but crucial clues about its making... 

A worthwhile exercise indeed!

The incised decoration is so very sharp and clear. So much so, that I can see that the tool required to create it was a certain shape at the tip and was polished. I can be almost certain that the process employed was 'lost wax' because the incisions shine in a way that just would not occur by working into damp clay. The surface shows fine horizontal striations, which say that at one point in the process of the making of the object, it was either turned on a lathe or was gently coaxed into shape (likely, before decoration commenced) by turning in the hand.  

 

The reverse is also a real treat. It is simply packed full of information about manufacturing methods ~

1. You can see that wax was laid or painted to a thickness of around 2mm, onto a fairly roughly finished core — probably of traditional loam, (pronounced. 'loom') which is clay and sand mixed with horse dung and/or straw. There are both incuse and relief traces of plant fibre (now in metal, of course) preserved in the casting. 

2. The windows were cast 'blind' so that a thin film of metal remained that was later punched through and the rough edges were folded backwards into the interior. 

3. There's many tiny incuse triangular tool marks which all align upwards. This really foxed me for a long time. They could not feasibly have been cast in unless the maker had applied tiny triangles of clay to the core and if they all face one direction then there is clear reason for this.

Eventually I tumbled that these have to be the sign of breaking out and removing the final remains of the fire-hardened core with an iron tool because these marks had been punched directly into cold metal. And the reason for the single direction is also clear. The maker probably held the cast in his lap and worked the tool around the interior to clear what remained stuck fast,  hammering away as he went. 

Until I had studied and gained a little useful knowledge of the lost-wax method,  I just could not see this! 

Medieval Censer — Drawing Early Conclusions

My work on a reconstruction effort commenced with very detailed examinations of the piece (utilising two pairs of reading glasses at once!) and then attempts at sketching out what I had theorised from the many clues I'd had at my disposal ~

It was laid upon a sheet of paper and then by carefully tracing around the perimeter with a sharp pencil I created an outline. The central keyhole-shaped window perforation was made by the same means, and then the curved line below it, imagined.

This was thought to have once been a complete semi-circle ~

The full semi-circle was made, a base line drawn across at bottom to represent the base of the upper cup and the basket-hatching within this drawn to entirely fill it.

The remains of a small circular perforation seen at bottom right was also drawn but this made no sense to me because it was off-centre. That it was indeed a hole and not merely a rather regular fracture was confirmed with my powerful eyeglass combination. It had been cast and possessed clear tooling marks that made this certain.

This apparently odd feature completely foxed me at the time...

Next, I drew in the rest of the decoration and as accurately as possible extended the fronds of the plant at left to the baseline. This exercise in such quick sketches was repeated many times until some genuine clarity began to emerge. Eventually, I decided to create a flat plan of the piece as best I could.

Then I had something of a clearer picture…

At middle and to the middle of right is what information I actually have and to the left what I imagine to have been the case. A band of zig-zags (or continuous sinuous line) at the base of the upper cup (and also top of lower cup) are motifs common to many such censers. The fragment possesses zig-zags between the stories of windows and I see no reason why this should not have been repeated below. 

The various perforations were thought to be repeating elements that would have continued around the entire circumference as too were the incised decorative elements.

Reference to other complete censers confirmed this could be the case. Many of the 'globular' type — which by now I suspected this example to have been — are decorated with semi-circular fields on the upper cup and whenever they are, without exception these repeat four times around the entire circumference and meet at the points of the four suspension lugs

Furthermore, in some cases (though not all) the number of 'windows' may be regular because a few of these globular 'pear-shaped' censers seemed in photographs of them, to possess the same quantity...

At least, it was true that there were most often two stories of windows, one above the other. The lower story usually possessing keyhole-shaped perforations, the upper always circular ones. And, when viewed as a photograph it was only possible to see five or six lower windows and four upper windows. I reckoned that perhaps this could mean a total of twelve lower story windows and ten top story windows. 

Without attempting an actual physical reconstruction, I could not tell if this fragment when repeated around a circumference, that as yet I could only guess but not confirm with accuracy, would show such numbers. 

Medieval Censer — The Complete Fragment

Fragments of Medieval bronze vessels were fairly frequent finds during my metal-detecting forays into central Essex. Most fields held one or two pieces if there had been activity there during the Medieval period, which in the areas that I was searching meant absolutely because I cannot remember anywhere that had not. 

Broken up cooking pots of various shapes and sizes — not decorated in any way but identifiable as chunks of cauldrons or skillets by their regular wall thickness and curvature. Occasionally a cauldron foot would be found. I thought that the most exciting thing to discover in this class of find would have been the anthropomorphic or zoomorphic handle ear from a chafing dish or the spout from a ewer but I never did find either one of those. 

Typical bronze vessel finds — a foot and a large body fragment found in close proximity to one another but probably not from the same cauldron. 

I always liked to find these mundane items. Not because they held any great value as objects in their own right but because other more interesting things would surely follow them.

I also wondered ~ 

"Why were there were so many of them?" 

"Why never was a second fragment of the same pot ever found?"

I concluded that such pieces of scrap metal were destined eventually to join the Medieval non-ferrous metal pool, but in the meantime were in circulation and likely used as currency in sub-farthing level exchanges. 

They were valuable. Maybe a loaf of bread valuable?

They were also exactly as commonplace as were finds of medieval coinage...

Actual size = 57.5 x 39.5mm

Then, one day, I was out and about on what had always proven to be a quiet and quite dull field. However, it was one that I thought held some promise — even though it never seemed to want to fulfil it! 

Once again, I turned up yet another boring bronze vessel fragment. However, on closer inspection I could make out decorations of odd sorts and when the clods of earth were broken away the centre fell out revealing a rather familiar looking keyhole-shaped hole. 

This incised decor — when I began to appreciate it — was truly fascinating! 

I had never seen anything like it before — have seen nothing quite like it since! 

All kinds of strange squiggles, zig-zags and hatchings and even plant fronds with neat little leaves. I just thought it a strange, strangle thing, and sat there in the dirt for a long time trying to fathom it ~ 

After a while I came to my senses and firmly decided there and then, that this was indeed a piece of something very interesting, and probably a very rare discovery… 

A Medieval censer, no less!

Enamelled censer from Limoges, France. 

The piece lay in my small collection of ‘Top Drawer Medieval’ for many years until just recently when I decided to reconstruct as best I could, a few of my incomplete or damaged finds.  I've made a start with some easier projects which have turned out well. 

This will not be easy — I know it. However, it will be a treat because what I think is remarkable about this fragment is its completeness! 

Little seems to be missing in the way of information...

I reckon that by closely studying the sheer wealth of invaluable clues contained in its shapes and forms, that it would be that rare fragment that perhaps I could possibly reconstruct as almost an entire object. 

It would take a great deal of homework and graft, but… 

I'd set out to try!