Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 8.djvu/263

 THK ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. l'.)o Bv Mr. IH;i k, of Cainbiiclge. — A sini^ular circular conve.v Jihufa, of nixed metal, the face apparently silvered : the fastening of the afw.*, which tvas of iron, appears at the back. This curious specimen, liere represented, B'as found at Streetway Hill, Little Wilbraham, Cambridireshire : the form may have been suggested by that of the cetra, or small round target of Bronze fibula, foimrl in Cambridgeshire. Orig. size. some barbarous nations. The fashion in which it is ornamented is very sininilar, — the metal is pierced with four apertures, in form resembling short-handled hammers, and a single incised zigzag line runs round the margin. This ornament has been regarded as belonging to the Anglo- Saxon period. Mr. Hawkins exhibited, b3^the kind permission of William Wells, Esq., of Holme Lodge, Hunts, a remarkable collection of ancient plate and fictile vessels, found in the operations now in progress for draining Whittlesea Mere. They consisted of a beautiful silver thurible, with its chains, and the elaborate embattled, and crocketed ornaments in perfect preservation : its date may be fixed as circa 1350, weight about 50 oz. This unique specimen of English church-iilate has supplied a subject for an admirable plate in Mr. Shaw's " Decorative Arts of the Middle Ages," recently completed. — A silver navicula, or ship for incense, standing on a raised foot ; date, about the close of the fourteenth century. The two extremities of this boat-shaped receptacle are fasliioned with rams' heads, issuing from an undce ornament, denoting the sea, and forming, possibly, a kind of rebus of the name Ramsey. It has been su[tposed, with much probability, that this plate had belonged to Ramsey Abbey, and was thrown into the Mere for concealment, at the Dissolution. The armorial bearing assigned to that monastery was — Or, on a bend azure, three rams' heads couped, argent ; and Peck states, that one of the abbots took as the canting device of his seal, a ram in the sea. With these sacred vessels were also found some chargers and plates of pewter, stamped with a ram's head, and apparently of considerable age. The fictile vessels are remarkable for their perfect preservation, and the grotesque character of the ornaments. One of them, a vessel nearly