A bronze bowl mount comprising a discoid body, scrolled tail and arched neck; the 'head' split at the forward end to accept the rim of the vessel, of which a fragment is held in place by the stub of an integral pin; the head and neck with a panel of reserved guilloche ornament on a red enamel field; the body a gently curved discoid panel with reserved Ultimate La Tène comma-leaf decoration, symmetrically disposed on a field of red enamel, with pins to the shoulders; the integral tail a D-shaped panel with reserved scrolls on a red enamel field.

PROVENANCE:
Found while searching with a metal detector near Feltwell, Norfolk, UK, 1998.
Property of a Norfolk gentleman.
Accompanied by a detailed report by Anglo-Saxon specialist Stephen Pollington.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by AIAD certificate no.11190-187995.

LITERATURE:
Cf. Bruce-Mitford, R., The Corpus of Late Celtic Hanging Bowls, Oxford, 2005, corpus no.96 (Seagry, Wiltshire), for similar profile and decoration.

FOOTNOTES:
Bowl mounts of this type with reserved La Tène ornament are found on hanging bowls mainly in 6th-7th century Anglo-Saxon princely or royal burials. They probably formed part of the so-called 'economy of prestige' in which decorative high-status tableware and feasting equipment circulated among the leading families of the various British and Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. A number of these items have been found in 7th century burial mounds such as Sutton Hoo (Suffolk), Prittlewell (Essex) and Benty Grange (Derbyshire). The decoration and manufacturing techniques suggest an origin among the late Romano-British groups of western and northern Britain.