|
Date: |
|
Description: | Early Medieval chape dating from the 10th to 11th century. The chape is made from folded sheet copper alloy with a zoomorphic openwork design. The incomplete sub-triangular fitting is in the form of a backwards looking quadruped (possibly a serpent or dragon). The sheet is folded along the length of the tail, and the sheet then splits at the apex to form a triangular opening. The creature has a backwards looking head, which creates an openwork circle in the space between the head, body and neck. The head is missing on one side, and there is an old worn break. The body tapers down towards a tail, which curves back on itself and joins to the back legs. A sub-rectangular openwork design is created between curved tail, comprised of four adjoined circles. There is a rectangular space between the front and back legs. The front legs have small circular rivet holes at the bend in the knee, one of the front legs (on the side of the fitting with the complete head) is broken at the point of the rivet hole.
The fitting is decorated on both sides, with each surface having a different design comprised of small punched circles and incised lines. The side missing the head has a row of punches just below the openwork design, with two irregular rows of punches above, and 3 irregular rows to the left. There are then two curved indentations, with their apex towards the open work design. To the right of these curves are two irregularly spaced rows of circles, then another two curves, there are several more circles before the break. The opposite side is again decorated with small, irregularly spaced circles however the curved indented lines are not featured on this side. Instead, there appears to be a lozenge shape encompassing some of the circles to the centre of the design.
The fitting has an even mid green patina, which is slightly lighter in the incised lines and a dull brown colour in the punched circles. There is a very small amount of gilt adhering to the surface, which is barely visible. The surface has some ware, and all the breaks are old and worn.
The fitting is 39.53mm long, has a maximum width of 21.37mm and a maximum thickness of 9.09. The sheet copper alloy has a thickness of 1.2mm.
This type of fitting is also found in Germany, and has a range of variations. | Format: | text/html | License: | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ | Publisher: | The Portable Antiquities Scheme | Rights holder: | The Portable Antiquities Scheme | Subjects: | archaeology | Temporal: | 900
1100 | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Creator: | Laura McLean | Identifier: | http://www.finds.org.uk/database/artefac... | Language: | en-GB | Format: | text/html | Go to resource |
|
More Like this...
-
CHAPE
Early Medieval chape dating from…
-
SCABBARD
An Early Medieval cast copper-alloy…
-
HOARD
Hoard of 23 coins, four…
-
-
-
-
-
-
VESSEL
Roman cast copper alloy cockerel…
-
|