Details

LOT 1136

Avar-Byzantine Silver-Gilt Sword Belt Mount Group

7TH CENTURY A.D.

3/4 - 1 7/8 in. (25.1 grams total, 18-48 mm).

Comprising six mounts: four 'floral' plates composed of six raised pellet-in-ring motifs arranged around a central hole, some mounting lugs remaining to the reverses; an openwork knotwork type with three mounting lugs to reverse; a hollow-formed rectangular plate with one rounded end, granulated borders framing granulated clusters arranged in orderly rows around a central arm and piercing; granulated border to reverse. [6]

Provenance

Acquired in the 1980s-1990s.
Ex an important central London gallery, London W1.

Literature

Cf. Daim, F., Hunnen + Awaren, Reitervölker aus dem Osten, Burgenländische Landesausstellung 1996, Schloß Halbturn, 26 April - 31 Oktober 1996, Eisenstadt, 1996, p.398, nos.5.365-5.367, for similar belt fittings.

Footnotes

This type of belt element decorated with granulation, is present in the Avar graves of the second half of the 7th century, and was most likely produced in the workshops of the Eastern Roman Empire, from where they reached the Avar lands as imperial gifts (tomb of Kunbàboni) or spoils of war. They were part of multiple belts, to which sabers and knives were attached, commonly used among Avars, Bulgars and Romans during the 7th and 8th centuries AD.