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LOT 0370
Anglo-Saxon Gilt Chip-Carved Bronze Mount
LATER 8TH-9TH CENTURY A.D.
1 3/4 in. (2 3/4 in.) (13.1 grams, 44 mm (50.4 grams total, 71 mm high including stand)).
Irregular fragment from a bronze casket mount formed with four discoid panels each filled with dense regularly-displayed foliage and tendrils with lobe finials; central pierced disc with triquetra motifs in the spandrels; accompanied by a custom-made display stand.
ProvenanceFound Saxmundham, Suffolk, in the 1980s.
From the collection of Dirk Kennis, Belgium.
Cf. Hammond, B., British Artefacts vol.2 - Middle Saxon & Viking, Witham, 2010; Webster, L. & Backhouse, J., The Making of England. Anglo-Saxon Art and Culture AD 600-900, London, 1991, item 138 (Gandersheim), 185.
FootnotesDetails of the decoration recall later 8th century items, such as the lobed tendrils and triquetra motifs on the Franks Casket; the regular disposition of elements recalls a shrine mount from Peterborough (Hammond, 1.12-d) and disc-headed pins (Hammond, 1.10-g, h). 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. -
Anglo-Saxon Gilt Chip-Carved Bronze Hanging Bowl Mount
Early 9th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £2,600
Triangular mount with applied rim forming a cell and interlocking La Tène spirals to the face; hook to the apex with recesses; accompanied by a custom-made display stand. 9.11 grams, 34 mm (29.8 grams total, 59 mm including stand)
Found Haddenham near Ely, Cambridgeshire, UK. From the collection of Dirk Kennis, Belgium.
The cells on the mount were intended to be filled with coloured enamel to produce a rich polychrome effect. 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. -
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).
