LOT 0354

Gothic Silver-Gilt Eagle Buckle with Plate and Cabochon Garnets

CIRCA 6TH-7TH CENTURY A.D.

4 3/8 in. (101 grams, 11.2 cm).

Comprising: D-section loop with gilt curved beak at each end, cell with inset garnet cabochon; D-section tongue with bird-head finial to the forward edge, faceted band at the rear; rectangular gilt plate with border, bands of repoussé scroll motifs and five cells with inset garnet cabochons, recurved backplate with roves.

From the private collection of a London gentleman, from his grandfather's collection formed before the early 1970s.

This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.13271-253199.

Cf. Menghin, W., The Merovingian Period. Europe Without Borders, Berlin, 2007, item I.16.1, for a less elaborate example of the type from the Gothic cemetery at Kerch; ‘Ajbabin A., ‘I Goti in Crimea (secoli V-VII) [The Goths in Crimea (5th-7th centuries)’ in I Goti (The Goths), Milano Palazzo Reale 28 gennaio- 8 maggio 1994, (Milan Palazzo Reale 28 January-8 May 1994), Milano, 1994, pp.134-135, figs.II.54 (p.135).

A similar silver buckle was found in female burial 4 at Lucistoe, belonging to the Gothic-Alan necropolis. These buckles fastened the waist belts of deceased noblewomen, who must have belonged to the aristocracy of these foederati of the Eastern Empire.