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LOT 0299
Anglo-Saxon Bronze Mythical Beast Shield Mount
CIRCA 6TH-7TH CENTURY A.D.
2 3/8 in. (10.2 grams, 60 mm).
With punched outline to the body and legs, gilded head with open jaws and raised cell eye; attachment studs to the reverse.
ProvenanceFound near Grimsby, UK, circa 2015.
LiteratureCf. Pollington, S., Kerr, L. & Hammond, B., Wayland's Work: Anglo-Saxon Art, Myth & Material Culture from the 4th to 7th century, Ely, 2010, p.360; Green, B., Rogerson, A., The Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at Bergh Apton, Norfolk: Catalogue, East Anglian Archaeology Reports. Gressenhall: Norfolk Archaeological Unit, 1978.
FootnotesA number of similar mounts, probably from shields or possibly saddles, have been found in England, notably the beast from grave 26 at Bergh Apton (Norfolk) where the animal depicted may be a bear.
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Large Saxon Amber Bead
Circa 5th-6th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £85
Opaque and amorphous in form, with a holed drilled slightly off-centre for suspension. 3.19 grams, 22 mm
UK gallery, early 2000s. -
Anglo-Saxon Gilt Bronze Great Square-Headed Brooch
6th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £910
Of Hines's Group X with rectangular headplate featuring low-relief bird-heads and a raised piriform mask to each upper corner; shallow bow with raised ribs and a stud to the centre; triangular footplate with coiled horse-head lappets forming the shoulders, lateral lobes (one detached) with sheet-silver surface, inverted facing mask to the finial; remains of ferrous pin and catch to the reverse. 100 grams, 14.5 cm
Found near March, Cambridgeshire, UK, circa 2015.
A close match to the features of the March brooch is not recorded in Hines's corpus, but the very distinctive isosceles triangle footplate with sharp shoulders appears on the example from Little Wilbraham, Cambridgeshire (Hines's pl.33(b). The facing masks in the upper corners of the headplate also appear on an example from Driffield (Hines, 1997, pl.82(a). -
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Anglo-Saxon Gilt Bronze Double-Axe Shield Mount
6th-7th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £260
With lozengiform central element and T-shaped 'axe' extensions; the lozenge with three-band collars, punched bands to the edges and central quatrefoil motif with pellets to the ends; two thick mounting lugs to the reverse, one with its mounting rove in place. 7.5 grams, 45 mm
Fine condition.
Found Hertfordshire, UK.
The mount belongs to the typology of symmetrically-shaped fittings with lozengiform or ovoid body. Comparisons might be made with a pair of bichrome fittings from a shield in Sleaford 136. Their ridged, gilded and punched bodies are not unlike that of the Sutton Hoo 018, 868 aquatic mount, but both their originally terminals are triangular or trapezoidal. They are therefore purely geometric, though it is a moot point whether a zoomorphic (aquatic) appearance was intended or given.
