LOT 0309

Pre-Viking Silver-Gilt Human-Headed Eagle Brooch

CIRCA 700 A.D.

2 in. (13.48 grams, 49 mm).

With broad looped body and wing, trapezoidal segmented tail, small angled claw; lentoid cell in the bow of the wing with inset garnet cloison; head with hooked beak and discoid panel with human facial feature; pin-lug to reverse with mineralised remains, possibly textile, and catch.

By repute found in the Kristiansand area, Norway, in the early 20th century.
From the collection of Jay Wilford, formed prior to 2000.
Acquired at the Royal Horticultural Hall antiques fair, Westminster, London, UK.
Property of a gentleman collector.
This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D’Amato.

Cf. L'or des Vikings, Bordeaux, 1969, item 65, fig.43.

The brooch resembles the form of aviform fibula found in the Baltic area, e.g. on Öland. The human face on a bird's body has parallels in the Sutton Hoo burial where the shield bears a bird in profile with a human mask on the hip. In the present case, the mask may represent the legend of Welund (Norse Völundr), the supernatural smith who creates a bird-form in order to escape from his captor, King Niðhad. This legend is known from Icelandic poetic references (Völundarkviða in the Verse Edda) and from Anglo-Saxon tradition.