Byzantine Glazed Sgraffito-Ware Shipwreck Bowl

Each arm with raised Y-shaped median panels and two bulb finials; shank below broken. 20.2 grams, 51 mm



Belgium collection, 1980s. From the collection of an London antiquarian.

Comprising: a large bronze buckle with thick round-section loop, ribbed tongue with acanthus-leaf design in-high relief, two pierced lugs to the reverse; a smaller buckle with long plate decorated with openwork geometric forms; a small seal box shaped as a youthful head with details on hair and face, open catch at the top. 107 grams total, 39-68 mm



Acquired in Europe in 1992. European private collection.

This type of belt elements, although present in the Avar graves of the second half of the 7th century, were most likely produced in the workshops of the Eastern Roman Empire, from where they reached the Avar lands as imperial gifts or spoils of war. They could be simple fastenings for belts, or part of multiple belts, to which sabres and knives were attached, commonly used among Avars, Bulgars and Romans during the 6th -7th centuries A.D.

Shallow bowl with glazed upper face and basal ring, reserved geometric design of roundels and lozenges, with signs of sea encrustations. 504 grams, 22 cm



Private collection of Mr S.A., Switzerland, 1990s, thence by descent.