LOT 1069

Pre-Viking Footed Dish with Central Zoomorphic Roundel

LATER 5TH-6TH CENTURY AD

8" (423 grams, 20cm).

A shallow circular silver dish with applied flared foot to the underside, possibly having been forced into a smaller box after being looted; the upper surface with rolled rim and two bands of triple line engraving; at the centre, a roundel depicting three elongated beasts reserved, with outer and inner bands of lines, pellets and teeth with niello infill, secured to the body of the dish by a domed rivet with niello-filled cross and a beaded collar; the dish deliberately bent at the edges and deformed, probably as a result of it being looted at some time and a need for it to fit into a box or container.

Ex Cooper collection, Gloucestershire, UK; acquired by her grandfather in Europe in the 1950s; thence by descent. Accompanied by a positive X-Ray Fluorescence metal analysis certificate.

The representations of the beasts are reminiscent of the Quoit Brooch Style from the late 5th and early 6th century.