Medieval pewter Pilgrim Badge - Horse & Rider - 24 mm

"Medieval Pewter Pilgrim Badge - Horse & Rider

Culture / Period: Medieval
Date / Period: 15th century
Material: Pewter
Dimensions: 24 mm
Condition: Good condition

No shipping outside the European Union. Due to complex export regulations concerning cultural goods, this item cannot be shipped outside the EU. Please ensure you have a delivery address within the European Union before placing a bid.

Provenance information:
Object Registration ID: 987

The current owner (S.N.J. S.) purchased the Pilgrim Badge - Horse & Rider from R.N. in Katwijk, the Netherlands.

The previous owner, R.N. from Katwijk, stated that the object had been in his collection since the 1990s. According to the previous owner, the object had previously been in a private collection in the Netherlands since the 1990s.

No further information concerning the earlier ownership history of the object was available from the previous owner.

Background Information:
Pilgrim badges were small devotional objects widely used in medieval Europe, particularly during the later Middle Ages. Usually cast in inexpensive lead or pewter alloys, they were acquired and worn by pilgrims and could serve as visible signs of pilgrimage, devotion, or association with a particular shrine or cult. Their relatively inexpensive production made such badges accessible to a broad section of medieval society.

This 15th-century example takes the form of a horse and rider. Equestrian imagery occurs among medieval badges and related small metal objects, although without a secure archaeological context or identifying inscription, the precise meaning or association of this particular figure cannot be established. The openwork design and low-relief modelling are characteristic of the practical casting techniques employed for small pewter objects.

Badges of this type belonged to an organised tradition of mass-produced devotional and secular imagery. They were generally cast in moulds, allowing workshops to manufacture multiple examples efficiently for distribution to visitors and travellers. Pilgrimage itself created extensive networks of movement across medieval Europe, carrying people and small objects between towns, shrines and regions.

Dating to the 15th century, the piece belongs to a period in which pilgrimage and the circulation of inexpensive cast-metal badges formed a familiar part of European religious and social life. As a surviving personal object of modest scale, it forms a tangible connection to the material culture of the late medieval world and to the people who used and carried such objects in daily life."