Construction (Process Table included in documentation)

The coronet is constructed of individual brass plaques that have been acid-etched with a decorative design, including some heraldry (which is a personal touch not a period affectation), then mounted to a brass band using brass rivets. Five unique plaques were designed using the tiara shown in the Seated Princess (See Figure 1) to make up the body of the piece. I made 5 plaques because Bannthegn coronets are, according to Atenveldt Sumptuary Traditions, 6 pointed. However, the original piece was made of an odd number of plaques, so I chose to an odd number to correspond with the original piece. Each plaque has a length of copper tubing tin-soldered to the back used to house freshwater pearls by a headpin & spacer beads. These pearls would not have been seen at the tops of each point in period, but were placed there to denote rank per sumptuary tradition.

After close inspection of the Seated Princess (see Figure 1) I determined that the individual plaques must have had some form of engraving on their surface. Much of the appeal of Islamic metalwork lies in its surface decoration. Even the most complex forms were covered in minute decoration which challenges the three-dimensionality of the object. (Ward, 35)

The individual I fabricated this coronet for is a Laurel within the Society for Creative Anachronism. I wanted her coronet to denote this while not being obvious. I also wished to include subtle pieces of her personal arms as well of that of the Kingdom while still maintaining a Persian flair in the design. Therefore, the middle plaque represents the individual and the Kingdom she served and the other plaques were decorated in my artistic rendition of the Laurel. Baer states that "flowers or shrubs are often set into medallions or bands and function as ornament…" noting that vegetative surface decoration was common.