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LOT 0364
Anglo-Saxon Gilt Chip-Carved Bronze Disc Brooch
8TH-EARLY 9TH CENTURY A.D.
1 1/8 in. (2 5/8 in.) (7.73 grams, 29.2 mm (29.19 grams total, 68 mm including stand)).
Plate brooch with raised rim and four applied knops (two absent); central disc surrounding by four radiating arms extending to D-shaped panels at the rim where the knops are attached; the interstitial fields with dense reserved meander-pattern ornament; pierced at the centre with a second eccentrically-placed hole and another offset hole at the end of one of the 'arms'; part of the rim absent; accompanied by a custom-made display stand.
ProvenanceFound Harston, Cambridgeshire, UK.
Ex Essex collection formed in the 1980s.
From the collection of Dirk Kennis, Belgium.
See Bain, G., Celtic Art - The Methods of Construction, reprinted London, 1996.
FootnotesThe 'key pattern' design appears in Irish and Scottish (Pictish) metalwork and carved stone such as the Nigg Stone (Ross Shire, Scotland) as well as in the borders of the Book of Kells. Recorded, studied, and determined by the Secretary of State’s Expert Adviser as an object of cultural interest. The Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest (RCEWA) considered an application to export this object. The Committee concluded that the object satisfied the third Waverley criterion and is therefore currently not exportable.
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Anglo-Saxon Great Square-Headed Brooch
6th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £1,430
Comprising: trapezoidal headplate with beast-head spurs to the upper angles and concentric panels of Style I ornament; shallow bow with central cell and garnet insert; long footplate with lateral lappets and central lozenge; facing mask above a trapezoidal bar finial; pin-lugs and catch to the reverse. 82 grams, 11.5 cm
Found U.K. British private collection, acquired by 2000.
The meaning of the 'facing mask' motif is probably related to the profile masks so frequently used in Style I art, where the 'pellet' eye is enclosed by an arched frame: the 'facing mask' repeats this motif to produce a pair of eyes in a doubled 'bow'. An element of visual 'riddling' is no doubt present: the design is neither one thing nor the other, but includes elements of both. Distribution of great square-headed brooches was initially concentrated along the valleys of the Rivers Trent, Thames and Severn, though it was later confined to the East Midlands and East Anglia (Hines, 1997, figs. 101, 102). -
Anglo-Saxon Gilt Chip-Carved Bronze Lozengiform Brooch
Early 9th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £572
Plate brooch with integral coiled spring and stub of the pin to one end; raised border enclosing a dense panel of 'Mercian Style' foliage in high-relief with central stud. 2.6 grams, 41 mm
Ex Colchester, UK, collection, formed 1980s-1990s. From the collection of Dirk Kennis, Belgium.
Lozenge brooches (known as Weetch (2014) Type 31.C ) are not a frequently found type in British archaeology; the British Museum's records list only 34 such items, almost all found in the East Midlands or the Winchester area. Recorded, studied, and determined by the Secretary of State’s Expert Adviser as an object of cultural interest. The Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest (RCEWA) considered an application to export this object. The Committee concluded that the object satisfied the third Waverley criterion and is therefore currently not exportable. -
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Saxon Period Iron Sceptre Head
8th-10th century A.D. or laterSold for (Inc. bp): £117
Composed of a cylindrical body, lobed neck, bulbous collar to handle with splayed square-section finial and a crescentic arm to the other end. 1.1 kg, 40 cm
Acquired 1990s-early 2000s. East Anglian private collection.
