Flat in section with crescentic upper end and scrolled lower end, the surface formed with symmetrically placed low-relief palmettes, vine tendrils with grapes and foliage, reserved against the field enamelled in green, dark blue and red. 94 grams, 13 cmVery good condition.

Acquired in the early 1980s.
with Edward Smith, USA.
From the collection of a Connecticut, USA, collector.
with TimeLine Auctions, 23 May 2017, no.251.
Private American collection, New York, USA.

Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Raffaele D'Amato.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.11994-210999.

Cf. Tassinari, S., La vaiselle de bronze, Romaine et Provinciale, au musée des antiquités nationales, Paris, 1975, fig.20, for a similar handle; Mattusch, C.C., Pompeii and the Roman Villa: Art and Culture Around the Bay of Naples, Washington, 2008, item 30, for type; for decoration and similar types in Britain see PAS WMID-3FE965, LVPL-39BCF5,YORYM-20B68C.

This could be an example of a Romano-British bronze and enamel handle from a mirror or patera, similar to some other existing examples in museums. The shape of the handle is similar to one of the famous pateras from Pompeii. Our specimen is decorated with 'Celtic-style' motifs consisting of a curvilinear scrollwork design of turquoise and blue enamel. A bowl with almost identical enamel work was found in Staffordshire, known as 'The Staffordshire Pan' (WMID-3FE965), while a complete patera was excavated in Amiens (known as the Amiens Patera).

Fragmentary vessel, cylindrical in form with lateral D-shaped lugs at the rim, each pierced to accept a bronze drop-handle with returned ends; the outer face with decorative frieze executed in pointillé technique consisting of a hunting scene: (1) a nude male with right arm raised to wield a spear overarm, left arm hidden behind a lenticular shield with pointed boss, with a cloak billowing from the left shoulder and wearing calf-length boots, advancing towards (2) a panther with densely spotted pointillé body, in rampant pose with s-curved tail, raised forepaws and with a curled tree behind the body, attacking (3) a nude male similarly equipped to (1), with head turned to the rear, wielding a sword or large knife in his right hand, following (4) another nude male with a cloak, shield and knife which he plunges into the throat of (5) a bear attacking to the left with forelegs raised, its rounded head with small lobed ears while to its rear stands (6) a male with shield raised and cloak billowing, right hand raised holding a rounded trefoil item (perhaps a net), and to his rear stands (7) a nude male with cloak, shield and spear which he thrusts towards (8) the neck of an attacking gryphon, winged, with an erect mane and beaked head in leaping pose behind (1); the figures all executed in pointillé style with pellets for the eyes, navel and nipples; detached base plate, undecorated but showing signs of tinning. 523 grams, 22 cm wide

Found East Anglia, believed Cambridgeshire, UK.
From a collection acquired on the UK art market from various auction houses and collections mostly before 2000.
From an important Cambridgeshire estate; thence by descent.

Accompanied by a copy of Drandaki, A., "ΥΓΙΕΝΩΝ ΧΡΩ KYPI(E)" A Late Roman brass bucket with a hunting scene.

See Mango, Mango, Evans & Hughes, A 6th century Mediterranean bucket from Bromeswell Parish, Suffolk, in Antiquity 63, 1989, pp.295-311; Carver, M., Sutton Hoo. A Seventh Century Princely Burial Ground and its Context, London, 2005, p.485-7; Drandaki, A., "ΥΓΙΕΝΩΝ ΧΡΩ KYPI(E)" A Late Roman brass bucket with a hunting scene published on Academia.edu.

The vessel is of an unusual type: three have been found in Turkey, Italy and Spain, three in England (excluding the present examples) and three others have unknown findspots; this find brings the total of known examples to ten. The rarity of these vessels indicates the high status of their owners. Each of these buckets is decorated with a hunting frieze and most have an inscription in early medieval Greek. Their manufacture is so similar that it is thought that they were produced at a single workshop in the Eastern Empire, possibly at Antioch, in the 6th century AD (Drandaki, n.d.). Their exact use is not certain, but since several of the inscriptions refer to 'good health' this suggests a domestic setting related to bathing. The rounded object held by figure (6) is clearly based on a similar rounded clump which appears on the vessel in Benaki Museum (beneath the word ' KAΛOI') where it is more convincingly executed with a hatched fill (Drandaki, p.39). Only three examples of this type of vessel are previously known from England: one from Bromeswell, Suffolk, within 1 km of the Sutton Hoo cemetery, found in preparatory work for the Sutton Hoo Visitor Centre; one from Chessell Down, Isle of Wight, where the bucket was part of a rich female grave excavated in the 19th century; one from Breamore, Hampshire, found by metal-detectorist, and excavated by Hampshire County Council's archaeology team who discovered that the grave in which it was found formed part of an important early Anglo-Saxon cemetery. The excavation was filmed by Channel 4's Time Team in August 2001; the cemetery held six more burials with bronze containers, though none as grand as this Byzantine example.

Squat vessel, cylindrical in form with lateral D-shaped lugs at the rim, each pierced to accept a bronze drop-handle with returned ends; the outer face with decorative frieze executed in pointillé technique with pellets between the bands consisting of (1) an upper band of running zigzags with fill; (2) clusters of three pellets; (3) sinuous curved line with fronds in the voids; (4) repeat of (2); (5) repeat of (1); underside with three soldered silver panels, possibly ancient repairs. 527 grams, 18.5 cm wide

Found East Anglia, believed Cambridgeshire, UK.
From a collection acquired on the UK art market from various auction houses and collections mostly before 2000.
From an important Cambridgeshire estate; thence by descent.

See Mango, Mango, Evans & Hughes, A 6th century Mediterranean bucket from Bromeswell Parish, Suffolk, in Antiquity 63, 1989, pp.295-311; Carver, M., Sutton Hoo. A Seventh Century Princely Burial Ground and its Context, London, 2005, pp.485-7; Drandaki, A., "ΥΓΙΕΝΩΝ ΧΡΩ KYPI(E)" A Late Roman brass bucket with a hunting scene published on Academia.edu.

The vessel is formally similar to the group of bronze vessels believed to have been made in Antioch in the 6th century, which have been recovered from 6th-7th century grave fields in England (Carver, 2005; Mango et al, 1989) and from sites in the Mediterranean area (see Drandaki, n.d.). While it lacks the elaborate hunting scenes and Greek inscriptions of the more complex examples, it shows most of the same decorative and constructional features.

Squat vessel with rounded underside, gusseted neck and carinated mouth with inner lip; stamped frond decoration to the shoulder and body, arched stamp pattern between; underside with impressed ropework spiral pattern. 497 grams, 14 cm wide

Ex English private collection, formed in the 1960s.
Acquired from Bonhams, London, 13 April 2011, no.245 (part).
From an important Cambridgeshire estate; thence by descent.

Accompanied by copies of the relevant Bonhams catalogue pages and the original Bonhams lot tag.

With trapezoidal headplate, shallow bow, narrow triangular foot and pelta-shaped finial, pin-lugs and catch to the reverse; the headplate with (originally silvered) angled panels to the upper corners and D-shaped lug at the middle of the upper edge; rectangular corner panels interrupting a frieze of Salin's Style I face motifs, inner plain band and raised rectangular panel above the junction with the ribbed bow; lappets of Salin's Style I profile heads flanking the junction of the bow with the footplate and vertical bar running to the finial, bisecting a cruciform panel with Salin's Style I zoomorphic forms, and outer plain lobes; finial comprising a disc with four radiating ribbed arms and central boss, pelta-shaped terminal; cleaned and one lateral lobe reattached. 82 grams, 13.8 cm

Found whilst searching with a metal detector near Dullingham, Cambridgeshire, UK, on Wednesday 4th October 2023, by David Pearson.

Accompanied by a copy of the British Museum's Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) report no.SF-E6203C, and the museum drawings.
Accompanied by a copy of a letter from the finder explaining the circumstances of finding.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.12076-211956.

See Hines, J., A New Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Great Square-Headed Brooches, London, 1997.

The individual elements of the design have parallels elsewhere in the corpus, and most are very similar to those on a brooch from Nassington (grave 33), pl.94(b) in Hines, 1997. The headplate is very similar in general although the Nassington example shows more punchmarks and tooling, and its lateral lobes and disc finial all bear guilloche detailing whereas those on the present example are plain. Large discoid finials to the footplate are not uncommon (e.g. from Ipswich and Bury St. Edmunds on Hines's pl.58) but the pelta-shaped extension appears to be unique; the ribbed cross in the circle as found on the finial is parallelled by the brooch from Chessel Down (Hines's pl.13(b)).

With a slightly domed profile and a raised circumferential border to the upper face; decorated with Celtic designs featuring elaborate curvilinear tendrils and triskele-style swirls enclosing an area of fine-line trumpet spiral designs, set around a central rectangular panel filled with millefiori-style enamel work in the form of an irregular chequerboard of blue and yellow enamel, the circular recesses retaining red enamel traces; two parallel rivets to the reverse. 23.4 grams, 51 mm

Found whilst searching with a metal detector near Driffield, East Riding of Yorkshire, UK, in 2018.

Accompanied by a copy of the British Museum's Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) report no.YORYM-73B821.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.12075-124454.

See Portable Antiquities Scheme, YORYM-975799, for a similar example.

A large openwork fitting, D-shaped in section with incised running keystone and zigzag to the upper and lower faces; openwork plate waisted in profile and formed as three cells flanked by S-coiled beasts; the upper beasts with one raised three-toed forelimb, D-shaped facing mask with pellet eyes, hatched detailing to the body, tribrach to the shoulder, clubbed tail coiled against the body; the lower beasts similar with anguiform details; the upper and lower cells D-shaped, the central one a lozenge, with a column of a hatched fish between; pierced at the upper corners and lower cell, two lateral pierced attachment lugs; ferrous remains, lug and part of a separate rivetted bronze plate to the reverse. 84 grams, 87 mm

Found whilst searching with a metal detector in Bassetlaw, Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, UK, from Tuesday 1 January to Wednesday 1 May 2013.
with TimeLine Auctions, 23 May 2017, no.494.

Accompanied by a copy of the British Museum's Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) six page report with refence no.DENO-4207C5 and is designated as 'a find of note'.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.12077-210997.

See Arrhenius, B., Merovingian Garnet Jewellery, Stockholm, 1985; Bourke, C. Irish Croziers of the Eighth and Ninth Centuries in Ryan, M. (ed.) Ireland and Insular Art AD 500-1200, Dublin, 1987; Webster, L. & Backhouse, J., The Making of England. Anglo-Saxon Art and Culture AD 600-900, London, 1991; Laing, L. A Catalogue of Celtic Ornamental Metalwork in the British Isles c.AD 400-1200, BAR British Series 229, Oxford, 1993, item 244 (Steeple Bumpstead boss); Carver, M., Sutton Hoo. A Seventh Century Princely Burial Ground and its Context, London, 2005.

This mount is unusual, although its decoration and manufacturing techniques point to an origin in the British Isles in the 7th-9th centuries. Its D-shaped upper face or ledge indicates that it is not the standard flat form of scabbard or harp fitting. The openwork nature of the casting is equally unusual, although the Steeple Bumpstead boss (British Museum accession no. 1916,0705.1) is formed with an openwork frame into which gilt bronze panels have been inserted, and several Irish croziers were manufactured in this manner (Bourke, 1987). The cells were probably intended to accept a glass inset gem, or an ivory or millefiori panel, although the inner panel of the central cell shows signs of having been gilded as if to reflect light through a translucent gem in the same manner as the foils placed behind the garnets on 6th-7th century Anglo-Saxon jewellery and weapon-fittings (Arrhenius, 1985; Carver, 2005). The beasts (especially the upper pair) show strong Irish influence in their design, which is found elsewhere in Northumbrian art in the 8th-9th century as for example on the brow fittings of the Coppergate helmet (Webster & Backhouse, item 47). Similar heads in profile appear on the scabbard chapes from the St. Ninian's Isle Treasure (Wilson, plate IV). The overall design of the piece is tentatively identified with the 'fish flanked by birds' motif seen for example in the Staffordshire Hoard, probably of later 7th century date.

A bowed anthropomorphic mount in the form of the face of Odin, with oval right and damaged left eye, beard and hair raised to form a convex shape, rounded cheeks, a triangular nose and a beard, moustache with lateral protrusion, the hair openwork and formed of entwined linear elements, five rivet holes present. 27.39 grams, 50.66 mm

Found by Steve Aldred whilst searching with a metal detector near Ferryhill, County Durham, UK, on Tuesday 8th March 2022.
Recorded with the British Museum's Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) and subsequently returned to the finder.

Accompanied by a copy of the British Museum's Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) report no.DUR-834DAB, where this object is described as: 'a find of note and has been designated: of National importance'.
Accompanied by a copy of the article about the circumstances surrounding the finding published in the February 2024 issue of Treasure Hunting Magazine.
Accompanied by a copy of a photograph taken of the object when it was found on 8th March 2022.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.12074-214165.

See Williams, D., Late Saxon Stirrup-Strap Mounts: a classification and catalogue: a contribution to the study of Late Saxon ornamental metalwork, 1997; Council for British Archaeology Research Reports no.111; and Wilson, D.M. and Klindt-Jensen, O., Viking Art, London, 1966.

The Hotspot, Treasure Hunting Magazine, February 2024, News and Views, p.12 & 13.

Comparison has been made with stirrup-strap mounts of Williams (1997) Class A, Type 9, and especially with variants of the form (see HAMP-B7C312). Although relatively few of these mounts have been found, and their distribution is spread across the country, there is an arguable focus on Yorkshire. Commenting on a 2007 Isle of Wight example (IOW-4FA904), Barry Ager (then of the British Museum) suggested a connection with horse-riding equipment, and in particular drew comparisons with a type of face-mask mount on the Danish harness-bow from Søllested (see Wilson and Klindt-Jensen, pl. 37).

With central raised cell and cloisonné enamel quatrefoil, flange rim. 3.72 grams, 22 mm

Acquired between the 1960s-early 1990s.
From an old UK private collector from Worthing, West Sussex, UK.
Property of K.P., a Cornish lady collector, UK.

Cf. Hattatt, R., Brooches of Antiquity, Oxford, 1987, item 1316, for type.

With central bosses within a pelletted ring, plain band with stamped roundels, billetted outer band and flared rim; pin-lug, pin and catch to the reverse. 7.01 grams, 26 mm

Found Cambridgeshire, UK.

Cf. MacGregor, A. & Bolick, E., A Summary Catalogue of the Anglo-Saxon Collections (Non-Ferrous Metals), Oxford, 1993, item 2.38, for type.

Flat bronze plaque with openwork detailing of two opposed zoomorphs, their slender bodies enmeshed within a lattice of tails, limbs and lappets; attachment holes at the eyes and rump; the eyes with pointillé surround; supplied with a custom-made stand. 20 grams total, 75 mm including stand

Ex German collection.
with Artemis Gallery, Colorado, USA, 8 March 2016, 58A.
Private American collection, New York, USA.

Accompanied by a copy of a previous typed catalogue page.

The style of the plaque is very heavily influenced by the Irish Book of Kells where confronted, interlaced figures appear as ornament.

Slightly domed profile with boss to the centre, parcel-gilt rim and spandrels, niello-inlaid motif of four bird-heads on curved necks; pin-lugs, hinged pin, catch and loop to the reverse. 23.7 grams, 44 mm

Private collection formed in Europe in the 1980s.
Westminster collection, central London, UK.

Cf. Kershaw, J.F., Viking Identities. Scandinavian Jewellery in England, Oxford, 2013, pl.3, for type.