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Details
LOT 1187
Merovingian Lettered Openwork Plate Brooch
6TH-7TH CENTURY A.D.
1 7/8 in. (15.6 grams, 43 mm).
A rectangular bronze brooch decorated with punched ring-and-dot motifs and openwork lettering, possibly 'RIC/VLF'; hinged pin and catch to reverse. [No Reserve]
Provenance
Acquired 1970s-1980s.
Ex UK collection.
Property of a Portsmouth, UK gentleman.
Literature
Cf.Various, Die Franken, Wegbereiter Europas, Mainz, 1996, pp.29, 292.
Footnotes
The item was probably part of a Merovingian belt fitting, later transformed in brooch with the application of the pin and catch. The name 'Riculf' or 'Ricolf' belonged to a bishop of Cologne, Germany, from 763 to 784 A.D.
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Fine condition, shallow crack to reverse.
Previously in the Alison Barker collection, a retired London barrister. From a Cambridge collection. Property of a North London gentleman.
The standing animal may represent the lupa or she-wolf which nurtured Romulus and Remus in the mythical story of the founding of Rome. The Emperor Julian, later known as 'the Apostate', was responsible for turning his back on Christianity and promoting a return to traditional Roman values, which included veneration of 'Roma' and the founding legends.
