SC - Re: Nefs

[marilyn traber]

Erin Kenny wrote:

> > At some times and places in period, salt cellars became wild and
> elaborate
> > items, fancy and decorated statues.  These were called nefs.  They
> > frequently had wheels on them so they could be rolled from one end
> of a
> > table to another, and they were richly decorated.
>
> Could you tell me a little more about them?  What were they made out
> of?  How big would they be?  This sounds like a project to
> "encourage" on my husband in exchange for some food or clothing!
>
>
> Claricia Nyetgale
> Caldrithig, Skraeling Althing, Ealdormere
> (Erin.Kenny at sofkin.ca)

nef is the older french term for a ship, and at one time, the particular
bin fot the royal feast gear was called a nef, probably because the one
I gave seen in the loufre dating to the 1100s was in the form of a
norman comquest type boat of silver and jewels. The neatest one I have
seen is in the wadsworth athaneum and is a whole mother of pearl
shell[looks like a giant snail shell] in a kind of neptune in a seahorse
drawn boat. By the time the renn came about[this one was from some
italian palace in the 1450s or so] they changed from a container to a
gaudy way to display your wealth.  I have one of those shells, I was
going to use it for a nef but the cat knocked it off the shelf and it
has a few cracks in it. *sigh*

margali

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