LOT 0355

Anglo-Saxon Gilt Bronze Cruciform Brooch Burial Group

6TH CENTURY A.D.

2 1/2 - 6 7/8 in. (225 grams total, 6.3-17.5 cm).

Comprising a large cruciform brooch and two bronze small-long brooches; (A) the cruciform of 'florid' type much gilding and applied silver ornament; the headplate a central rectangle with a high-relief Style I motif, framed on three sides by sheet-silver bands and with panels of gilt billeting to the outer edges, lateral and upper flanges each formed as a stylised male face with conical eyes flanked by avian heads and with a T-shaped sheet-silver beard; the bow broad and flat with vertical columns of punched-pot detailing, and surmounted at the apex by a square panel with green enamel fill and reserved quatrefoil; the lower body with similar panel to the headplate with lateral vertical bands with punched detailing, outer edges with applied sheet-silver panels; below, the foot formed as a stern male face with heavy brows and conical eyes developing to a broad pelta-shaped finial with Style I ornament inside a raised border, lateral avian heads and punched detailing; to the reverse, a ferrous lump attached to the pin-lug and feint solder-scar where the catch was attached; some traces of mineralised fabric; (B) bronze small-long brooch with rectangular headplate divided into three panels, each with punched-point to the outer edges, shallow bow, narrow neck to the footplate with transverse ribbing, trapezoidal foot with punched-point edging; to the reverse, a large pin-lug with ferrous accretion and a small hooked catch below; (C) bronze small-long brooch with rectangular headplate flanked on three sides by T-shaped extensions with stepped profile, incised borderlines and punched pellets; deep carinated bow with stepped corners; pelta-shaped foot with punched pellets to the edges; to the reverse, a D-shaped pin-lug with ferrous accretion inside the bow, narrow catch with hooked edge absent. [3]

Found East Anglia, UK, early 1990s.

Accompanied by a written report compiled by Anglo-Saxon specialist Stephen Pollington.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by a search certificate number no.12287-221153.

Cf. MacGregor, A. & Bolick, E., A Summary Catalogue of the Anglo-Saxon Collections (Non-Ferrous Metals), Oxford, 1993, items 15.13, 15.45 (small-long brooches), and 12.36 (cruciform).

The group belongs to a standard assemblage in 6th century female graves, with two smaller brooches worn at the shoulders to support a peplos dress, and a larger and more ornamental brooch worn on the chest to close a shawl or mantle.