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Date: |
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Description: | An incomplete gilded copper-alloy probable harness mount of Anglo-Saxon date.
The mount consists of a decorated rectangular panel that is broken at one end, and a protruding disc that was integrally cast with the object and probably functioned as an attachment tab.
The rectangular panel has a raised edge and decorated surface approximately 1mm in depth from the upper face of the raised edges. The panel, though not the raised edges, are gilded. One end of the panel bears an intricate Salin's Style I chip-carving in relief. The opposite end of the panel has a circular setting integrally cast which holds a smooth faced stone blood red in colour. The stone was tested with XRF and revealed to be a stone of the garnet family and not glass. Viewed under a microscope, it was clear that there were few impurities in the garnet. The smooth face of the stone is raised approximately 1mm higher than the edges of the panel. The side of the garnet setting opposite the chip-carved design is broken. It is likely that the stone was centrally placed in the panel, so that if the object is symmetrical (and it probably was), then about one-third of the object is missing.
Tania Dickinson has provided a provisional interpretation/description of the Style I creature based on a viewing of a photograph. 'Facing the garnet, a profile head with 'peaked' forehead and coiled 'hair piece', an eye and triangular nose or cheek; a curved neck, with one thick sloping ridge and two narrow sharp ridges, links head to the leg, which is demarcated by a double horizontal hip-band, and has a triangular thigh and recurved foot. I am not quite sure what the two raised blobs are in front of this foot: the smaller might be a bent front leg, but the larger seems too large and/or out of position for either the top of the leg or the head's cheek.'
The underside of the object is flat and relatively smooth. There is evidence for soldering or shallow riveting of the artefact in the form of two small circles, one placed in the centre of the disc protrusion and the other centred beneath the garnet. These further suggest the object was symmetrical.
Tania Dickinson has said the object is probably a horse harness mount.
The use of the garnet and the Salin's style I decoration date the object to the early to mid 6th century. | Subjects: | Harness | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Creator: | Collins, Robert - Portable Antiquities Scheme | Identifier: | http://www.findsdatabase.org.uk/hms/pas_... | Language: | en-GB | Go to resource |
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