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Description: | A cast copper-alloy early-medieval chatelaine of probable 7th-century date, and continental in style. The object is a large pendant fitting with a biconical neck, imitating a spacer bead, decorated with incised transverse lines (L.: 14.55m, max. dia.: 10.2mm). It would appear to have an iron core judging by the terminal which is surrounded by dark orange-brown corrosion product. A bell-shaped plate appears to be slotted into the neck, or is otherwise integral to it. For pendants of similar form see Treasure Case 2003 T207 (TAR 2003, pp. 72-73, fig. 94.2). The plate is decorated bifacially. The more ornate surface features a double ridged border along its sides. Within the field are two Style II animals facing each other in profile, rendered in low relief but within a depression such that they are flat to the border. The heads each feature a defined triangular ear and a punched annulet eye, as well as open jaws which meet in the centre. The bodies are decorated with closely packed pellets, giving the effect of scales or feathers, within a reserved border. The front and rear legs are undecorated broad low ridges, ending in raised transverse mouldings forming collars across the junction between the legs and feet. The feet each have four long toes; the ends of the toes touch to make the two animals the mirror image of the other. The front and rear hip joints are in low relief within the higher relief of the legs; the hips are pear-shaped, with the rear hips turned to fit more neatly into the confined space. Between the curves of the legs, the background also swells in low relief. The other face is decorated with three rows of lightly punched double-ring and dot motifs. These are slightly mis-aligned within their rows. The row nearest the biconical element, and the central row, both consist of three of these motifs, but the furthest row (at the wider end) has only two, as such; a third dot is visible, but any rings around it are very faint. From the wider end itself protrude two flat circular loops, at one corner and in the middle; there would have been a third on the opposite corner, but this has been lost in antiquity. The extant loops both show evidence of wear at the point from which elements would have hung. The paired animal design is simple but satisfying in the way it makes good use of the space, and the image shown as in the photograph is presumably an orientation with which the owner would have been familiar. However, the object would have hung as in the drawing, and then the design could be read in a different way. The creatures' hips, legs and feet can become the eyes, cheeks and mouths respectively of two faces, with the moulded gaps between the limbs becoming noses. This object's decoration bears comparison with another chatelaine recorded on this database from Norfolk, ref. NMS-2139A6. The artefact now has an even, very dark green patina.
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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