Viking Age Bronze and Crystal Pendant with Beast's Head

CIRCA 10TH CENTURY A.D.

3 1/4 in. (42.01 grams, 83 mm high).

With fusiform hexagonal-section crystal bead modified for use as a pendant with the addition of a bronze collar bearing stamped 'bowtie' motifs attached to two lateral straps converging at the end to form a knotted and looped bail; finial formed as a beast-head with raised snout and piriform eyes, shallow flange ears, slanted muzzle; thick bronze wire suspension loop with ends twisted around the shank. [No Reserve]

Provenance

Private collection formed in Europe in the 1980s.
Westminster collection, central London, UK.

Literature

Cf. similar animal-head profile on the weathervane from Källunge church, Gotland in Franceschi, G., Jorn, A. & Magnus, B., Fuglen, Dyret og Mennesket i Nordisk Jernalderkunst, vol.2, Borgen, 2005, pl.181.

CONDITION

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LOT 0349