Loading, please wait...
Details
LOT 1258
Anglo-Saxon Gold Chip-Carved Bronze Roundel
6TH CENTURY A.D.
1 1/4 in. (6.53 grams, 30.23 mm).
Central stud with six running spirals around; dimple to the reverse.
Provenance
Found Southern England.
Acquired on the UK art market in the 1980s.
From an East Anglian private collection.
Literature
Cf. MacGregor, A. & Bolick, E., A Summary Catalogue of the Anglo-Saxon Collections (Non-Ferrous Metals), Oxford, 1993, item 2.4, (saucer brooch) for the running spiral design.
Footnotes
The item is probably the button from a shield-boss as it shows signs of a ferrous rivet to the centre.
CONDITIONVETTING:
TimeLine Auctions follows a vetting process to ensure the authenticity and legality of all items, reinforcing our commitment to integrity and responsible trading. Each antiquity, antique, and coin lot undergoes thorough examination by a vetting committee of at least ten external specialists, professional trade association members, scientists, and archaeologists: Our Vetting Process
AUCTIONS:
TimeLine is a leading auction house specialising in antiquities, ancient art, collectables, natural history, coins, medals, and books. Our auctions offer museums, collectors, historians, and enthusiasts the opportunity to acquire unique and historically significant pieces.
RELATED LOTS
-
Anglo-Saxon Gold Chip-Carved Bronze Roundel
6th century A.D.Estimate: £100 - 140 (+bp*)
Opening Bid: £50
Roundel with central disc and surrounding band of three-strand guilloche; possibly the 'button' from a shield-boss. 9.24 grams, 28.45 mm
Found Norfolk, Southern England. Acquired on the UK art market in the 1980s. From an East Anglian private collection. Accompanied by an old Norfolk Castle Museum record slip.
The item is described on the museum's accompanying slip as a 'disk brooch' but it lacks any sign of having had a catch or pin-lug attached. -
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 Tinned Bronze Openwork Horse Harness Mount
Late 5th-early 6th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £234
Disc mount with four pierced lugs to the reverse, openwork design with four radiating U-shaped elements between the arms of a cross with T-shaped voids. 26.1 grams, 57 mm
Found Southern England. Acquired on the UK art market in the 1980s. From an East Anglian private collection.
The 'zoned' layout of the piece strongly recalls some of the design elements in Kentish disc brooches, where the cells contain inlaid garnets, millefiori glass, meerschaum and other materials (see Arrhenius, B., Merovingian Garnet Jewellery, Stockholm, 1985, figs. 188-193).