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LOT 0331
Pre-Viking Silver-Gilt Mythical Beast Helmet Mount
CIRCA 5TH-6TH CENTURY A.D.
1 5/8 in. (13.6 grams, 42 mm).
In the form of an equine creature modelled in the round with long beak and arched neck; panels of gilded Style I ornament to each lateral face, stepped band with punched detailing extending from the ears to the chest; rounded rump with pointillé detailing; hollow mounting socket to the underside.
ProvenanceAcquired early 1990s.
From an East Anglian private collection.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.11895-204402.
Cf. PAS record NLM-219C93, for a similar item from Alborough, Yorkshire; possibly of Scandinavian manufacture, cf. gilded animal-brooch (wolf?) from the 5th c. Danish find at Engegårds jorder in Adamsen, C., Sort Muld, Bornholms Museum, 2008, p.62(1).
FootnotesThe socket on the underside suggests that the mount was placed prominently, perhaps on the crest of a helmet. Zoomorphic helmet mounts are known e.g. the boars on the Benty Grange and Wollaston examples, though these are not so detailed as the present example. The item is too small to be seen from afar but is ornate enough to attract attention at close quarters. Stylistically, the piece might have been made in southern Scandinavia or in an Anglian area of England in the later 5th or 6th century A.D.
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LOT 0331
Pre-Viking Silver-Gilt Mythical Beast Helmet Mount
Estimate £1,500 - 2,000€1,740 - 2,320 (for guidance only)$2,030 - 2,700 (for guidance only)
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Viking Age Gilt Bronze Boar's Head Brooch
10th-11th century A.D.Estimate: £600 - 800 (‡+bp*)
Opening Bid: £300
Retaining an articulate pin to reverse and geometric detailing to each face. 37 grams, 48 mm
From the collection of a North American gentleman, formed in the 1990s. -
Viking Age Bronze Bird Brooch
10th-11th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £104
Modelled facing left, stylised wing and body detailing; remains of a fitting element to reverse. 6.06 grams, 30 mm
From the collection of a North American gentleman, formed in the 1990s.
Bird brooches from the late(r) Viking era have been found in Scandinavia as well in areas occupied and inhabited by the Vikings and Norsemen within England, in Anglo-Scandinavian and Anglo-Saxon contexts. These so-called bird shaped brooches can be dated to the 11th and even early 12th century. Stylistically the brooch here cannot be categorised as a distinct 'Viking style' such as the late Urnes style, although some types of other bird shaped brooches shows us connections to the Ringerike and Urnes style. The decoration and form of the bird on the brooch here is more influenced by the development of Romanesque styles spreading from the Continent into Scandinavian art, like the style of a bird, depicted on the right corner next to the door portal of Rimsø Kirke, Jylland, completed in 1150 A.D. -
Viking Age Silver-Gilt Lobed Belt Mount
9th-10th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £195
Of annular form with four large discoid lobes alternating with smaller ones, parcel-gilt wreath band; four mounting rivets to reverse. 3.8 grams, 27 mm
Acquired on the German art market before 2000. From an old Munich collection.
