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LOT 0330
Anglo-Saxon Gilt Bronze Great Square-Headed Brooch
6TH CENTURY A.D.
5 3/8 in. (136 grams, 13.5 cm).
Of Hines's Group XX with square headplate bearing concentric bands of billets, undulating lines and punched points, with vesica motifs to the upper corners; thick shallow bow with central rib, isosceles triangle footplate with horse-head lappets and flanking lobes with concentric rings, ropework bands and central vesica, disc finial with ropework border; pin-lugs to the reverse and broad catch.
ProvenanceFound near Grimsby, Humberside, UK, circa 2010.
LiteratureCf. Hines, J., A New Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Great Square-Headed Brooches, London, 1997, pl.78(a).
FootnotesThe brooch shows a restrained use of low-relief detailing confined to largely geometric features other than the horse-heads at the shoulders and the single facing mask on the headplate above the junction with the bow. The bow itself is very thick and displays a prominent median rib with just a suggestion of outer ribs. The mineral deposits on the reverse bear the imprint of the textile to which the brooch was attached.
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AUCTIONS:
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Anglo-Saxon Bronze Entwined Serpent Mount
6th-7th century A.D.Estimate: £300 - 400 (‡+bp*)
Opening Bid: £150
With openwork design of two serpents interlaced, each with billeted body and lentoid eyes, ropework border to the shorter sides; old collector's accession numbers to the underside '91.115' and '15871'. 10.9 grams, 46 mm
UK collection formed 1970s-1990s. Ex property of an English gentleman.
The decorative pattern of this mount is similar to what, according to S. West, is an Anglo-Saxon die found in Suffolk, where legless animal forms are represented lying head to tail, with beaded bodies within a beaded border. Also here the animals are showing interlaced jaws and headed bodies, all contained in a border. -
Superb Anglo-Saxon Gilt Bronze Great Square-Headed Brooch
6th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £11,700
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. -
Anglo-Saxon Bronze Mythical Beast Shield Mount
Circa 6th-7th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £650
With punched outline to the body and legs, gilded head with open jaws and raised cell eye; attachment studs to the reverse. 10.2 grams, 60 mm
Found near Grimsby, UK, circa 2015.
A number of similar mounts, probably from shields or possibly saddles, have been found in England, notably the beast from grave 26 at Bergh Apton (Norfolk) where the animal depicted may be a bear.
