The use of ancient cameos as personal ornaments has already been mentioned; and there is in the British Museum a mediæval intaglio, the finest of its kind, which was used as a morse. It is known as the Crystal of Lothair, since it was made, in all probability, for Lothair II, King of the Franks from 855 to 869. It is a lenticular plaque of rock crystal, 4½ inches in diameter, engraved in intaglio,[83] with the history of Susanna.[84]
Public collections at home and abroad possess a variety of examples of Gothic morses of exquisite design. One of the most remarkable of German workmanship of the fourteenth century is in the Musée Cluny at Paris;[85] while among the finest German jewels of the fifteenth century must be ranked a morse of beautiful execution in the Victoria and Albert Museum.[86] Other noteworthy examples are, three in the treasury of the cathedral of Aix-la-Chapelle, one of them[87] containing a representation of the Annunciation—a subject which, judging from the inventories, appears to have been a very favourite one for the purpose, particularly in England. Three more are in Paris: one—the beautiful morse of St. Louis—in the Galerie d'Apollon,[88] a second in the Rothschild Bequest[89] in the Louvre, and a third in the Dutuit Bequest.[90] In the Kunstgewerbe Museum at Berlin is a silver-gilt morse which was made in the year 1484 for Albert von Letelen, canon of Minden, by the goldsmith Reinecke van Dressche of Minden. It is a circular disc 5½ inches in diameter, filled with three elaborate Gothic tabernacles, each containing a figure. Entirely symmetrical in composition, it follows a design commonly found on the seals of the same date ([Pl. XXII, 3]).
An excellent idea of the extraordinary beauty of the morses in use at the close of the Middle Ages can be obtained from fifteenth-century paintings, particularly of the Flemish school. Few of the latter can surpass what is one of its finest examples in the National Gallery—Gerard David's beautiful picture of the "Canon and his Patron Saints," in which are displayed, in almost all their pristine freshness, some of the most magnificent representations of the jeweller's art.
Besides these pectorals, which sometimes served a practical, but often a purely decorative purpose, there were various other ornaments that acted as clasps (agrafes). These agrafes are similar to those still made use of in our day, working on a system of a hook fitting into a loop. Clasps for mantles were sometimes made of massive loops fastened on either side of the border of the mantle, like parts of a hinge, which could be clasped by a pin being thrust through them, or by a cord or strap.
Mantle clasp (portion) on effigy of Henry IV (Canterbury Cathedral).
A heavy ornamental mantle was often worn by both sexes over the dress. It was open in front, and displayed the dress underneath. Upon its opposite edges were fixed two ornamental rosettes or lozenges, connected by cords terminating in tassels, or by a band across the breast. In the case of ceremonious attire this band was of metal, profusely jewelled, while the ornamental pieces or clasps at each end were of elaborate goldwork set with precious stones. On the monumental effigy of Henry IV in the Chapel of St. Thomas à Becket, at Canterbury Cathedral, the cloak is secured by a rich band fastened at each end by diamond-shaped clasps of fine design. Henry's Queen, Joanna of Navarre, who lies beside him, has clasps of almost the same form, fixed near the shoulders, and united by a simple band. Somewhat similar ornaments, rosette-shaped, can be seen on the effigy of Anne of Bohemia, first wife of Richard II, in Westminster Abbey.
Since the pectoral is sometimes worn together with these clasps, it is evident that it often had nothing to do with closing the mantle; but when a pin is attached behind, and it is employed for secular purposes, it assumes the ordinary type of the modern brooch.
The English word for this smaller and secular variety of morse, which is distinct from the fermail or ring-brooch, was nouch.[91] It was also called ouch, by misdivision of a nouch as an ouch, and was variously spelt nuche, nowche, owche, etc. That the nouch is the actual English equivalent to the morse or pectoral is proved by a will dated 1400,[92] in which among the jewels bequeathed to the shrine of the Head of St. William of York was "unum monile, Anglicè nouche auri, cum uno saphire in medio, et j. dyamand desuper, et circumpositum cum pereles et emeraudes." Nouches were attached to the front of the garment, but were occasionally worn upon the shoulder. On the effigy of Henry II, at Fontevraud, and on that of Henry III[93] in the Chapel of Edward the Confessor at Westminster Abbey, the mantle in each case is fastened upon the right shoulder with a brooch of this kind.