Anglo-Saxon Gilt Bronze Horse Harness Mount

6TH-7TH CENTURY A.D.

1 3/8 in. (6.4 grams, 35 mm).

Composed of a pelta-shaped body with broad border, central panel of dense Style II ornament, three studs to the reverse. [No Reserve]

Provenance

Ex property of a gentleman; acquired in the 1970s.

Literature

Cf. Carver, M., Sutton Hoo. A Seventh Century Princely Burial Ground and its Context, London, 2005, item 25cii; Fern, C., ‘The Archaeological Evidence for Equestrianism in Early Anglo-Saxon England c.450-700' in Pluskowski, A. (ed.), Just skin and bones? New perspectives in Animal-Human relations in the Historical Past, 2005, pp.43-71.

Footnotes

The pelta-shaped body could be a part of a circular decorative phalera usually attached to the breast of the horse, or to the muzzle of the horse's head, or decoration of the harness mount of antilina or strap-junction of the postilina (Fern, 2005, fig.5.18). It was usually positioned at the bottom of the phalera.

CONDITION

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LOT 1534