Viking Age Bronze Hinged Horse Harness Pendant

Borre-style beast and integral suspension loop with linear detailing; the openwork plaque with pelletted border and scrolled florid niello-filled panels, beast with pelletted band to the body and gripping hands on the border, facing mask below the loop. 21.1 grams, 40 mm



Private collection formed in Europe in the 1980s. Westminster collection, central London, UK. This lot has been cleared against the Art Loss Register database, and is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

There is a class of discoid pendants with banded borders and contorted figures found in the hinterland of the Baltic region, associated with the influence of Scandinavian settlers. The design of these items recalls specific elements of Scandinavian art - for example, the 'gripping hands' motif is a feature of the Oseberg Style named after the famous Norwegian ship-burial. Oseberg Style is associated with the beginnings of the Viking age, and was current in the 9th century when Scandinavian settlers began to establish centres of trade and political control in the area of the rivers Dnieper and Volga. The motif has been interpreted as a horse and linked with various legends and mythic figures.

Wire loop with coiled ends attached to two cruciform pendants; each with Corpus Christi beneath a cross pommy, one with raised border, the other low-relief. 9.46 grams, pendant: 36 mm wide



From the private collection of a London gentleman, from his grandfather's collection formed before the early 1970s. This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

S-shaped plate brooch formed with a profile bird-head finial at each end with inset garnet cabochon eye, hatched panels and inlaid garnet cloisons; pin-lugs and catch to reverse. 7.58 grams, 30 mm



Private collection formed in Europe in the 1980s. Westminster collection, central London, UK. This lot has been cleared against the Art Loss Register database, and is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

During the mid-sixth century the S-brooch, along with the disc brooch, became popular. These were made primarily of gilded silver embellished with garnet inlays or in garnet cloisonné. Early forms of S-shaped brooches appear in graves in Scandinavia throughout the fifth century and in Europe during the first decades of the sixth century, and reached the height of their popularity during the latter half of that time. They were widespread across Europe and are found in central and western Europe, Italy, Scandinavia and Anglo-Saxon England. They generally take the form of an S-shaped body with heads at either end facing in opposite directions. The heads are generally depicted as birds but examples are known of unidentified animals with splayed open jaws, possibly dragons or wolves. The use of the head imagery is consistent with the aesthetic tendencies associated with the northern, Pagan Germanic world.