|
Date: |
|
Description: | An incomplete cast copper-alloy Roman Glass Centre-boss Brooch. The flat circular plate has two flat-bottomed channels with repetitive punch marks. The outer channel has ??S?? shaped punch marks and the inner channel has annulets on one edge and crescents on the other. The surface of the channels is gilded. In the centre of the brooch is an upstanding circular flange, which holds a convex coloured glass central boss with a nipple on the top. The colours of the glass centre are black, yellow, white and light blue. The reverse of the brooch has a single semi-circular lug with the remains of a copper-alloy sprung pin. The complete catchplate is opposite the lug and has a length of 11.2mm and a width of 9.8mm. The surface of the reverse has traces of tinning. The external diameter of the brooch is 37.9mm, the diameter of the boss is 18.6mm, the thickness of the plate is 2.1mm and the weight is 22.71g.
This brooch is proving problematic at present, as glass centre-boss brooches do not normally have polychrome centres. Dark glass with inlaid trails of white, yellow and turquoise is, however, found in the early Anglo-Saxon bead type called by Birte Brugmann Overlying Crossing Waves (Brugmann 2004, 35-36, 77). This raises the possibility that this brooch lost its central glass setting in antiquity and that it was replaced in the early Anglo-Saxon period, which would be extremely unusual.
However, this may not be the case. The earliest type of Overlying Crossing Wave bead, called by Brugmann the Common type, is indeed a Germanic fashion, but according to Koch (1987, 326 ff) produced from the late Roman Iron Age to the 5th century. They are, according to Koch, found quite widely on the Continent, in Scandinavia and in England (although Brugmann??s sample of 32,231 English beads contained only seven). Some at least may have been manufactured in a late Roman environment at Trier (Brugmann 2004, 36). The Common type developed in 5th-century England into the Insular type, which is more common (17 examples in Brugmann??s sample).
It is not possible to say with certainty whether the boss on this brooch is closest to the Insular or the Common type, but the possibility remains that we are either looking at a late Roman Germanic import, or a re-used Roman brooch. | Subjects: | Glass Centre-boss | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Creator: | Staves, Lisa - Portable Antiquities Scheme | Identifier: | http://www.findsdatabase.org.uk/hms/pas_... | Language: | en-GB | Go to resource |
|
More Like this...
-
BROOCH
An incomplete cast copper-alloy Roman…
-
BROOCH
An incomplete cast copper-alloy Roman…
-
BROOCH
A cast copper alloy Roman…
-
BROOCH
Gilded Oval brooch (possibly a…
-
BROOCH
Gilded Oval brooch (possibly a…
-
BROOCH
An incomplete cast copper-alloy Roman…
-
BROOCH
A Roman copper-alloy gilded oval…
-
BROOCH
An incomplete Roman cast copper-alloy…
-
BROOCH
A Roman copper-alloy gilded oval…
-
BROOCH
An incomplete Roman copper-alloy gilded…
|