Dat zie je goed: een bronzen bril uit klooster Yesse

Samenvatting

A spectacular find: A Medieval metal spectacle frame from Yesse Monastery (Groningen, The Netherlands). 

During the start of the 2022 fieldwork season at the Cistercian nunnery of Yesse, in Essen, Groningen, a fragment of a pair of riveted bronze spectacles was found. During the initial digging of a trench over the eastern range of the nunnery, the object was discovered in a layer of demolition rubble with a terminus ante quem of 1420-1450 CE. All characteristics of the object – its straight handles, central rivet, roughly 3 cm diameter frame for the lens, and three hand-drilled double conical holes – conform to the typology of the first riveted spectacle type. It can be securely dated to the 14th or beginning of the 15th century and is the oldest known example of spectacles made from a non-organic material.