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Description: | Gold disc pendant decorated with plain and beaded wire. The pendant is crumpled, with a bad tear to right of the loop and an empty central setting. A loose garnet cabochon was found associated with it. The face is edged with a single strand of beaded filigree wire and is divided into two registers which are separated by a second strand of wire, also beaded. Each register is divided into four by a broad cruciform motif springing from the central setting, with simple arcaded terminals, again formed from beaded filigree wire. The four fields of the outer register are filled by pairs of tightly coiled S-scrolls in beaded wire. These are balanced by pairs of figure-of-eight motifs in the inner register, unusually made from a double strand of plain wire. The empty central cell for a prominent setting is surrounded by a beaded wire collar - the loose garnet found associated with the pendant is too small to entirely fill the cell, suggesting that it was perhaps originally set in a calcitic collar. The loop, placed above the uppermost arm of the cruciform divider, is made from a narrow strip of ribbed gold sheet. This is neatly cut to a curve on the back of the pendant and would have been soldered to it. It shows some signs of wear. The pendant belongs to a type that is widespread in the second half of the seventh century and it would originally have formed part of a high status necklace (cf. the early seventh century necklace from Sarre, Kent, mounted with gold solidi; Webster and Backhouse 1991, cat. no. 31). The motifs on these disc pendants vary widely, but generally are executed in beaded filigree wire around a central setting containing either a small cabochon or a plate garnet. Occasionally the stone is enclosed in a calcitic collar (eg. one of the four disc pendants found in grave 93, Boss Hall, Ipswich; Webster and Backhouse 1991, cat. no. 33b). Many pendants are decorated with cruciform elements, S- and figure-of-eight scrolls: the Boss Hall assemblage (above) offers good parallels for the decoration of the Eye pendant. Another close parallel, with similar central cross but annulet rather than S-shaped scrolls, was found at Freston, Suffolk; see West 1998, fig. 46.11. Also see NMS-4198A8 for a pendant with two rings of filigree decoration and a central setting, this time of glass.
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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