A thin (0.7mm) slightly domed disc with chamfered lip to the outer edge, pierced at the centre and close to the periphery, decorated with dense ornament comprising a border, cross and quadrants; the border with running meander pattern extending onto the rim; the cross with two arms in loose bilinear interlace and two with dense, regular interlace, all within narrow borders; the centre with an incised D-shaped panel on each internal edge; two quadrants with a La Tène Style triskele of discs among scrolled tendrils, remaining two quadrants with opposed Insular Style animals with extended lappets forming a frame of interlace, ring-and-dot to the shoulder and hip.

PROVENANCE:
Ex Northern English collection; found Northumberland, UK, 1990s.

LITERATURE:
Cf. Youngs, S. (ed.) The Work of Angels. Masterpieces of Celtic Metalwork, 6th-9th Centuries AD, London, 1989; Webster, L. & Backhouse, J. The Making of England. Anglo-Saxon Art and Culture AD 600-900, London, 1991. The thin metal and shallow curvature suggest that the appliqué formed part of the decorative scheme of a substantial item, such as a casket, shrine or processional cross, to which it was attached by a central stud, possibly into a prepared collared socket. The surface behind must have been curved or some form of soft padding used to support the appliqué.
The cross bears two contrasting styles of interlace - a dense mono-linear type seen on some cross-shafts in the English Midlands and known as the 'Mercian Style', and a bilinear variant familiar from sumptuous manuscript art such as the Lindisfarne Gospels. The outer meander is a geometric form found in some 5th-6th century Merovingian contexts and elsewhere. The opposed beasts within an interlace panel in a quadrant occurs on e.g. the linked three-pin set from the River Witham (Webster & Backhouse, item 184). Parallels to the combination of Mercian Style interlace and triskeles may be found on e.g. the decorative mounts from Perthshire (Youngs, item 117); the combination of opposed beasts and interlace appears on the disc from Bolnhurst (Webster & Backhouse, item 185).