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LOT 1774
Anglo-Scandinavian Urnes Style Stirrup Mount
11TH CENTURY A.D.
2 in. (19.28 grams, 49 mm).
Of Williams's Class A Type 10a, a heater-shaped plaque with pierced lug at the apex (broken), two piercings above the base, low-relief openwork Urnes style design with standing beast and entwined tendrils, narrow ledge to the reverse.
ProvenanceAcquied on the UK art market.
Private collection, Kent, UK.
Cf. Williams, D., Late Saxon Stirrup-Strap Mounts, York, 1997, item 183, for type.
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AUCTIONS:
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Viking Iron Fire Strikers
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Pre-Viking Gold Aroma Bucket Pendant
4th-7th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £260
Miniature drum-shaped vessel covered in filigree bobbles with strap handle. 0.72 grams, 15 mm
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Pendants in the form of miniature buckets have been found in a number of pagan Anglo-Saxon and Viking contexts and are generally made of bronze or iron, with gold examples being rare; three gold examples were found with the hoard from Hoen, Norway. Bronze bucket amulets have been found at Driffield in Yorkshire, and Vimose bog in Denmark, among other places. In form they represent wooden buckets bound with bronze or iron bands which have been found in Anglo-Saxon and Viking graves and are believed to have held mead or ale and were used to replenish the cups from which warriors drank. As amulets they probably represent the ecstatic power of alcoholic drink and the role of women as the dispensers of these precious beverages.
