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_900x900.jpg "Frankish Silver-Gilt S-Shaped Bird Brooch with Garnets")
_200x200.jpg "Frankish Silver-Gilt S-Shaped Bird Brooch with Garnets")
.jpg "Frankish Silver-Gilt S-Shaped Bird Brooch with Garnets")
LOT 0349
Frankish Silver-Gilt S-Shaped Bird Brooch with Garnets
5TH-6TH CENTURY A.D.
1 1/4 in. (7.58 grams, 30 mm).
S-shaped plate brooch formed with a profile bird-head finial at each end with inset garnet cabochon eye, hatched panels and inlaid garnet cloisons; pin-lugs and catch to reverse. [No Reserve]
ProvenancePrivate collection formed in Europe in the 1980s.
Westminster collection, central London, UK.
This lot has been cleared against the Art Loss Register database, and is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.
Cf. Beck, H. et al., Fibel und Fibeltracht, Berlin, 2000, item 468; similar brooches from the Frankish cemetery at Monceau-le-Neuf-et-Faucouzy, deptn Aisne, France in Menghin, W., The Merovingian Period. Europe Without Borders, item VII.23.2; and the S-fibula from Schwarz-Rheindorf, Westphalia, in Menghin, W., The Merovingian Period. Europe Without Borders, item VII.48.27.
FootnotesDuring the mid-sixth century the S-brooch, along with the disc brooch, became popular. These were made primarily of gilded silver embellished with garnet inlays or in garnet cloisonné. Early forms of S-shaped brooches appear in graves in Scandinavia throughout the fifth century and in Europe during the first decades of the sixth century, and reached the height of their popularity during the latter half of that time. They were widespread across Europe and are found in central and western Europe, Italy, Scandinavia and Anglo-Saxon England. They generally take the form of an S-shaped body with heads at either end facing in opposite directions. The heads are generally depicted as birds but examples are known of unidentified animals with splayed open jaws, possibly dragons or wolves. The use of the head imagery is consistent with the aesthetic tendencies associated with the northern, Pagan Germanic world.
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AUCTIONS:
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LOT 0349
Frankish Silver-Gilt S-Shaped Bird Brooch with Garnets
Sold for (Inc. bp): £3,120
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Scandinavian Viking 'Hoard' of Hacked Silver Jewellery and Coins
9th-10th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £910
An assembled collection of silver items including: hacked ingot fragments; complete and cut dirhem coins; one end of an ansate brooch with applied figure; braided wire shank; looped end of a drop handle and other items. 158 grams total, 6.5-63 mm
From the private collection of a London gentleman, from his grandfather's collection formed before the early 1970s. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato. -
Pre-Viking Silver Filigree Bucket Pendant
4th-7th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £312
Miniature drum-shaped vessel with strap handle, beaded wire bands to top and bottom of sidewall, filigree loop ornament. 2.35 grams, 21 mm
Private collection formed in Europe in the 1980s. Westminster collection, central London, UK. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.
Pendants in the form of miniature buckets have been found in a number of pagan Anglo-Saxon and Viking contexts and are generally made of bronze or iron, with gold examples being rare; three gold examples were found with the hoard from Hoen, Norway. Bronze bucket amulets have been found at Driffield in Yorkshire, and Vimose bog in Denmark, among other places. In form they represent wooden buckets bound with bronze or iron bands which have been found in Anglo-Saxon and Viking graves and are believed to have held mead or ale and were used to replenish the cups from which warriors drank. As amulets they probably represent the ecstatic power of alcoholic drink and the role of women as the dispensers of these precious beverages. -
Viking Silver Twisted Ring
Early 9th-11th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £169
Heavily patinated solid silver ring with thick braided bezel of three wires, flat butted reverse. 8.62 grams, 27.28 mm overall, 18.24 mm internal diameter (approximate size British O, USA 7, Europe 14.98, Japan 14)
Acquired on the London art market, 1990s. Private collection, London. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.
