Viking Period Silver Filigree Teardrop Pendant

Dipping bowl, raised from a single sheet of silver, decorated with an incised rosette to the underside with central omphalos; rolled and everted rim; inner face with repoussé rosette, each petal with a stylised beast reserved on a pounced field; later applied central rosette with acanthus border, tondo with repoussé wyvern rampant. 134 grams, 15.5 cm



Acquired on the UK art market. Private collection, London. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.12978-244536.

Miniature drum-shaped vessel with strap handle, the body decorated with granule clusters. 1.49 grams, 15 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.

Lentoid in plan with openwork image of a small bird being seized by a larger predator; loop to apex. 5.42 grams, 39 mm



Found Norfolk, UK.