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Details
LOT 0356
Viking Age Bronze Tortoise Brooch
9TH-11TH CENTURY A.D.
3 5/8 in. (71 grams, 93 mm).
Composed of an elliptical domed body decorated with a transverse band of ribbed decoration featuring four facing masks with pellet eyes; the outer fields with zoomorphic tendril designs edged by a ropework border; geometric motif to the flange; transverse bar and remains of some fitting elements to reverse. [No Reserve]
Provenance
From the collection of a North American gentleman, formed in the 1990s.
Literature
Cf. MacGregor, A. et al., A Summary Catalogue of the Continental Archaeological Collections, Oxford, 1997, item 4, for oval brooches; cf. Ewing, T., Viking Clothing, Strood, 2007, fig.36; cf. Franceschi, G., Asger, J. & Magnus, B., Mennesker, Guder og Masker i Nordisk Jernalderkunst, Bind 1, Silkeborg, 2005, figs.130-1.
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