Anglo-Saxon Gilt Bronze Chip-Carved Beast Manuscript Mount

Discoid and hollow to the reverse with raised rim and shallow suspension hook with beast-head facetting; panel of three La Tène spirals and comma-leaf motifs, central void. 25.5 grams, 57 mm



Found near Grimsby, Lincolnshire, UK, circa 2010. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.11893-204384.

Bowl mounts in groups of three are believed to have adorned the rim of bronze cauldrons which were used for the public dispensing of beer or mead at feasts. They are usually decorated in a manner which suggests that they were made in the north or northwest of Britain, and were either traded with the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms or, more likely, they formed part of the circulation of prestige goods among leading families in ritualised gift exchange.

Of Hines's Group X with two discs on the headplate in a rectangular frame surrounded by a frieze of facing human masks, and another mask placed centrally above the junction with the bow; shallow bow with three ribs; curved horse-head lappets flanking a vertical shank with facing mask detailing, discoid lobes and an inverted mask below; pin-lugs to the reverse and solder-scar where the catchplate was attached. 128 grams, 14 cm



Found near Grimsby, Humberside, UK, circa 2010. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.11899-204377.

The brooch has many of the characteristics of Hines's Group X but also bears a strong resemblance to an unclassified example from Barrington A, Cambridgeshire (Hines, 1997, pl.101). The frieze of facing masks which forms the border to the headplate has echoes of contemporary motifs found on the headplate of the brooch from Fridaythorpe (Hines, 1997, pl.8(b)) and the crests of helmets such as Valsgarde mounds 5 and 7 (Sweden) - see Mortimer, 2011, p.32-35). The inverted mask on the finial echoes the 7th century shield-fitting from Vall, Gotland (Franceschi et al, 2005, pl.209). The significance of the mask motifs has been discussed in the cited works of Franceschi et al and Mortimer. A link to generations of deified ancestors is one possibility.

With circular frame enclosing a cloisoné enamel cruciform design in shades of blue and white, six radiating lobes to the rim each with an enamel fill. 5.65 grams, 25 mm



Acquired 1990s. From an East Anglian private collection.