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Description: | An incomplete copper alloy 'dragonesque' style plate brooch of early Roman date (75-175 AD). The brooch is incomplete having lost the upper section 'head' through a relatively recent break. Originally the brooch would have been broadly S-shaped with the upper terminal taking the form of a head with curved snout, and the lower (complete) terminal forming a tail. The pin, used to secure the brooch to a garment, is commonly looped around the upper neck. In this example it is secured by a sub-rectangular shaped catch plate which extends from the reverse face of the tail. This catchplate is formed from a vertical rib and the pin rest is turned over to form a U shape. The brooch measures 45.8mm length, 27.6mm width is a maximum of 9mm thick (across the catch plate), and 3.7mm thick across the body / plate. It weighs 10.39 grams. The front face of the brooch is decorated with a series of incised lines and panels of coloured enamel. The incised lines are curvi-linear in form mirroring the contours of the brooch and enamel panels. They are best described as tracery enclosing and forming delicate panels. The body of the brooch is decorated with three areas of enamel; the upper and lower panels are much decayed and were possibly poorly applied to the brooch as they have a considerable number of gas pockets / bubble present within the matrix. All the colour has been lost from these two areas, although it is possible that they were originally a red colour glassy enamel. The shape of these two upper and lower panels is best described as an irregular curvy triangle which mirrors the contours of the brooch. Between these two body panels is a sub-rectangular shaped panel of blue enamel. This is relatively well preserved and extends above the surface of the surrounding metal. The tail section of the brooch is also decorated with the delicately incised pattern. Here are two further enamel panels, one has again been lost, but was presumably red, the other a glassy yellow oval shape. The reverse face of the brooch has also been decorated with incised designs. The body and foot of the brooch has been similar decorated with very fine incised curvi-linear lines mirroring the contours of the brooch, these are less fine than those present on the front face. The catchplate has also been decorated with a series of incised V shaped incised lines forming double vertical fibs on the body of the catchplate and reverse edge of the catch plate. These marks are not functional in nature. The brooch has a bluey green coloured well developed patina which has been slightly abraded in places. The majority of abrasion is present on the edges of the brooch where some surface material has been lost. Here a light green powdery corrosion product is present, similar corrosion is present on the reverse face of the brooch. Bayley and Butcher identify the dragonesque style brooch as a development in British made plate brooches (p 171). They note that the distribution is mainly in Britain, with a marked concentration in the North, where they were presumably made (p172). Based on a review of published literature dating brooches Sally Worrell (unpublished, 2007) suggests that dragonesque style brooches date to the early phases of the Roman period in Britain c. AD 75-175. This example seems to be substantially different to many of the other dragonesque brooches recorded on the PAS database.____________________________________________________________________________________________________Donald Mackreth has commented that "this [brooch] is excessively rare: I do not think I can have seen another Dragonesque with a catch-plate".Peter Reavill: The form of Dragonesque brooch in Shropshire is very rare with only a few eaxmples being dicovered to date. The unusualness of the presence of the catchplate may therefore suggest local production of an exotic item not often seen in the area
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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