Details

LOT 0330

Anglo-Saxon Bronze Applied Disc Brooch

CIRCA 5TH-6TH CENTURY A.D.

1 7/8 in. (16.9 grams, 48 mm).

Discoid in plan with pin-lug, chord, pin and catch to the reverse; applied rim secured by four domed rivets; low-relief hexafoil motif with interstitial ring-and-dot motifs, segmented border.

Provenance

Found Cambridgeshire, UK.
Acquired on the UK art market in the 1980s.
From the private collection of an Essex gentleman.

Literature

Cf. MacGregor, A. & Bolick, E., A Summary Catalogue of the Anglo-Saxon Collections (Non-Ferrous Metals), Oxford, 1993, item 1.14, 1.18, 1.39.

Footnotes

Applied brooches are a recognised form of early Anglo-Saxon costume, associated mostly with Saxon areas such as Sussex and the Thames valley. The majority of such brooches are made up from a plain backplate with the pin and catch attached, and a thin front plate with repoussé ornament. The present example appears to be formed as a decorative body with an applied rim; there is evidence for this construction technique in the form of two unassociated rims from a grave at Fairford (Gloucestershire) (MacGregor & Bolick, item 1.39).