Anglo-Scandinavian Viking Bronze Bridle Cheek Piece with Knotwork and Beasts

11TH CENTURY A.D.

2 1/2 in. (36.7 grams, 63 mm).

Of Williams Type 2, formed as a flat triangular plate broken across the hole which originally held the iron bit in place, from one corner the elongated terminal extends into a rounded swelling and ends in a rounded knob, possibly suggesting an animal snout; one edge of the plate with a central projecting lobe, used to form the nose of a stylised face with engraved detail resembling the paired spirals flowing up to form arching eyebrows and and eye features; above right of the face running up the top of the fitting an engraved piece of knotwork creating a four-lobed design of a band running off from the the knotwork towards the break. [No Reserve]

Provenance

Found whilst searching with a metal detector in Folkestone and Hythe, Kent, UK.
Property of a Kent gentleman, a specialist medieval collector.

Accompanied by a copy of the British Museum's Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) report no.KENT-FD1DDE.

Literature

See The Portable Antiquities Scheme, nos.SUR-4D80E6 and HAMP-564699, for similar cheek pieces of Williams type 2 in both form and decoration.

CONDITION

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LOT 2126