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LOT 0384
Viking Bronze Bridle Strap Junction with Beast Heads
10TH-11TH CENTURY A.D.
2 1/2 in. (30 grams, 63 mm).
Comprising a rectangular suspension loop with D-section shank and mask below, two flanking arms each with a zoomorphic (bear?) face, one terminating in a wolf's head and the other in a bird's head; small loops below the terminals.
ProvenanceFound Bardney, Lincolnshire, UK, in the early 1990s.
LiteratureCf. Leahy, K. and Lewis, M., Finds Identified, London, 2018, p.294, PAS NMS-482554, for similar example.
FootnotesThis bridle junction is decorated in the Anglo-Scandinavian Ringerike style. On each side of the central hole is an outward facing animal, their beaked heads positioned on the outer edges. The details on the face are carried out in moulded relief as well as engraving.
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LOT 0384
Viking Bronze Bridle Strap Junction with Beast Heads
Estimate £600 - 800€700 - 930 (for guidance only)$810 - 1,080 (for guidance only)
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Pre Viking Scandinavian Silver Aroma Bucket Pendant with garnets
Circa 4th-7th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £546
With braided wire handle, applied wire bands to the rim, granulation to the sidewall and base, five cells each set with a cabochon garnet. 3.02 grams, 19 mm
Private collection formed in Europe in the 1980s. Westminster collection, central London, UK.
Pendants in the form of miniature buckets have been found in a number of pagan Anglo-Saxon and Viking contexts and are generally made of bronze or iron, with gold examples being rare; three gold examples were found with the hoard from Hoen, Norway. Bronze bucket amulets have been found at Driffield in Yorkshire, and Vimose bog in Denmark, among other places. In form they represent wooden buckets bound with bronze or iron bands which have been found in Anglo-Saxon and Viking graves and are believed to have held mead or ale and were used to replenish the cups from which warriors drank. As amulets they probably represent the ecstatic power of alcoholic drink and the role of women as the dispensers of these precious beverages. -
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Circa 9th-10th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £1,690
With heater-shaped body and trefoil to the apex with lobe detailing, openwork Borre Style design to the body with three-band mesh design, facing mask with lobes to the upper edge, pellet eyes and moustache. 46.80, 62.38 mm.
Ex property of a professional collector; acquired before 1990.
The image seems to be a mixture of the two Scandinavian styles 'Borre' and 'Jellinge'. They belong to the style of 'German four legged beast' in Animal style from the Baltic Sea region, according to P. Paulsen's classification. The recent discoveries of similar chapes in the Balkans suggest their employment from the Varangian Guard of Byzantium in 10th century A.D. -
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Mostly Mordvinian type; some with punched detailing to the panels, others with moulded panels; one with row of lateral loops. 135 grams total, 32-64 mm
Private European collection formed before 2000. UK art market. Property of an Essex gentleman.
