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Description: | A copper-alloy strap-end of 11th century date. The main section of this strap-end consists of a tongue decorated with deep grooves. From the top, the sides splay outwards into two projecting lobes, they then angle inwards towards an irregular point. The decoration is possibly zoomorphic, the grooves possibly delineating a nose and mouth (at the point), a pointed-oval eye and a chevron-shaped ear. The two attachment plates are set at a right-angle to the main section of the strap-end. They have flat top sides and taper towards the bottom, where a rounded projection extends upwards on the upper side. The plates are separated by a central gap and are held together by a single copper-alloy rivet, located centrally, just below the top side. The artefact measures 51mm long, 19.9mm wide and 10.2mm thick. The weight is 12.32g. This piece was found in association with a similar strap-end (BH CA2FB0) and with a strirrup-strap mount (BH-CA1A95). The strap-ends were identified by Gabor Thomas, who had the following to say about them: "From an art-historical perspective, these strap-ends do appear to be weakly derivative of Late Viking art styles, but they are too stylised to allow a definitive attribution to either the Ringerike or Urnes styles. Their closest relatives are examples of my Class G strap-ends with wedge-shaped split-ends and openwork tongues which may be English copies of Urnes-style strap-ends recovered from Gotland and other Scandinavian areas. They most likely date to the middle or second half of the 11th century and can be considered (alongside stirrup-strap mounts) as an interesting addition to the corpus of ornamental metalwork reflecting the reception of Scandinavian artistic impulses during the period of Danish rule in Anglo-Saxon England" (Thomas 2009: pers. comm.).
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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