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_900x900.jpg "Anglo-Saxon Gilt Bronze Double-Axe Shield Mount")
_200x200.jpg "Anglo-Saxon Gilt Bronze Double-Axe Shield Mount")
.jpg "Anglo-Saxon Gilt Bronze Double-Axe Shield Mount")
LOT 1339
Anglo-Saxon Gilt Bronze Double-Axe Shield Mount
6TH-7TH CENTURY A.D.
1 3/4 in. (7.5 grams, 45 mm).
With lozengiform central element and T-shaped 'axe' extensions; the lozenge with three-band collars, punched bands to the edges and central quatrefoil motif with pellets to the ends; two thick mounting lugs to the reverse, one with its mounting rove in place.
ProvenanceFound Hertfordshire, UK.
LiteratureSee Dickinson, T.M., 'Symbols of Protection: The Significance of Animal-Ornamented Shields in Early Anglo-Saxon England' in Med.Arch. vol. XLIX, 2005, pp.109-163, fig.13,e; Hammond, B., British Artefacts vol.1 - Early Anglo-Saxon, Witham, 2009, p.75-81, for discussion.
FootnotesThe mount belongs to the typology of symmetrically-shaped fittings with lozengiform or ovoid body. Comparisons might be made with a pair of bichrome fittings from a shield in Sleaford 136. Their ridged, gilded and punched bodies are not unlike that of the Sutton Hoo 018, 868 aquatic mount, but both their originally terminals are triangular or trapezoidal. They are therefore purely geometric, though it is a moot point whether a zoomorphic (aquatic) appearance was intended or given.
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Saxon Bronze Dress Pin Group
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The High-Status 'Ryedale' Anglo-Saxon Bronze Hanging Bowl Complete with all Four Chip-Carved Mounts
550-700 A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £36,400
An excessively rare and almost complete copper-alloy hanging bowl and associated fittings comprising: (i) the bowl with three attached matching hooked escutcheons and suspension rings (ii) the basal disc (iii) a body fragment (or possible repair patch) (iv) a curved bronze fragment (ii) the basal disc with separate frame (iii) fragment of copper-alloy sheet, possibly forming part of a repair to the base of the bow (iv) a curved copper-alloy strip (iv) four skeletal fragments from a sheep or similar. 381 grams total, 3.6-20 cm
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Hanging-bowls are high-status vessels with origins in the Roman period which continued in use only in Britain and, later, in Ireland. They appear in burial contexts which date them to the sixth to late seventh century. The form of this example is paralleled by the bowl from Hadleigh Road, Ipswich, Suffolk (British Museum accession number 1984,0103.9) which has a similar shape and kite-shaped escutcheons secured by three rivets (Bruce-Mitford, 2005, Corpus No. 86). -
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