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Description: | Cast copper-alloy belt mount or strap end with remaining traces of gilding. The plate is sub-rectangular and the upper surface is decorated with a single animal in Anglo-Saxon Style II. The reverse of the plate is plain and there is a bent copper alloy strip (cast with the main plate and then bent over) which would have held the object to the leather belt. This attachment would have been secured by means of a rivet, the hole for which pierces the centre at the top of the decorated side of the plate. Description of the decoration contributed by Helen Geake: The animal is in profile and turned to the right, with its head looking backwards over the body. The head has a pair of unusual closed jaws and a lappet extending from the back of the head. The neck is decorated with two grooves; a separate pair of grooves delineate the shoulder, and are curved outwards to suggest a rounded, muscular shoulder. A short leg extends from the shoulder. The two-groove decoration starts again on the body and runs down most of its length to give a triple-strand appearance. The body is thin and ribbon-like, and curves up and down in a simple loop. The body simply curls over on itself rather than properly interlacing, but details of which part passes over which are uncertain as the rivet hole cuts through the decoration here. A much larger leg, with a three-toed foot, extends from the body as it loops around. The body then curves down again and may generate another leg, but corrosion makes this uncertain [this description is being written from a scan; the object is not present]. The body then runs under itself, turns up towards the corner and passes over itself to form another simple loop, and another leg with three very clear toes extends from the outer part of the loop. The end of the body simply flares out slightly to form a tail. The head, the simple loop interlace and the almost naturalistic style are all unusual in Style II, but the style of the paws and the triple-strand interlace are characteristic. The main plate measures 28.2mm long, by 13.4mm wide and 1.6mm thick. Bent copper alloy attachment measures 13.3mm high, by 11.9mm wide and 1.2mm thick. The object weighs 4.8g. It was found with a coin of Henry III wedged into it - see find record BH-8C70D5.
Original Image | Publisher: | http://finds.org.uk | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Identifier: | http://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/r... | Go to resource |
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