Details

LOT 0952

Byzantine Gold Strap End with Facing Figure

CIRCA 7TH-8TH CENTURY A.D.

1 1/2 in. (7.40 grams, 39 mm).

The hollow-formed, tongue-shaped body adorned with a filigree border, repoussé figure with pellets on the torso and serpents framing the head.

Provenance

Acquired 1990s-early 2000s.
East Anglian private collection.

Literature

Cf. similar mount in the collection of the British Museum, London, under accession no.1991,1002.1; see also similar pendant (in style) in Arslan, E.A., L'oro D'egli Avari, Popolo delle Steppe In Europa (The gold of the Avars, Steppe People in Europe, In Italian), Milano, 2000, for illustration of use and for comparable pieces, particularly p.110, cat.82.

Footnotes

The beautiful horsemen burials found in the Avar necropolis of central Europe date to the last third of the 7th century A.D. and the early 8th century A.D. show wealth and pomp. This type of belt elements, although present in the Avar graves, 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.