Anglo-Scandinavian Viking Bronze Stirrup Mount with Interlaced Serpents

10TH-11TH CENTURY A.D.

1 1/4 in. (22.3 grams, 32 mm).

Squat-bodied and triangular in form; short tab with rivet hole to apex, ledge with rivet to reverse of the lower edge, displaying high-relief interlaced serpent design with head above the lower edge.

Provenance

Acquired early 1990s.
From an East Anglian private collection.

Literature

See Williams, D., Late Saxon Stirrup-Strap Mounts, York, 1997.

Footnotes

The mount is not included in Williams's study of Anglo-Scandinavian stirrup mounts, which is now more than twenty years old. However, it is evidently an example of Class B, while lacking the bear-mask and openwork features. Its design appears to derive from a Class A type (Williams's nos.380, 383) which shares the feature of the facing serpent-head placed centrally on the lower edge.

CONDITION

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LOT 1328