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Description: | Cast copper alloy, enamelled zoomorphic (cockerel) brooch of early Roman date, probably 2nd Century AD (100 - 200 AD). The body of the brooch is hollow being sub-ovoid (egg) shape in plan, with a convex bowed or D shaped profile. The back of the brooch is concave and the cross section is C shaped. The neck and head of the bird is integrally cast and complete. The pin of the brooch is broken at the hinge side and only a small part of it survives; it is sub-rectangular in section. The pin was attached to the brooch by a hinge; formed from two integral perforated cast lugs and an axis bar which passed through both the lugs and the pin. This mechanism survives and the ends of the axis bar are turned down and hammered flat to secure. The catch plate of the brooch is cast but has been badly abraded; all that remains is an incomplete integral sub rectangular lug, which projects on the opposite edge to the hinge.The upper surface of the brooch is highly decorated with an enamelled design which depicts the stylised feathers on the head, wings and spine. The head is decorated with a large eye formed from three concentric circles, the inner and outer of which are enamelled. This enamel survives poorly; the central ring could be red in colour. The beak and comb are cast; the wattles (flaps of skin under beak) are shown by two crescents of enamel. Around the junction of the body with neck is a collar or red enamel inverted triangular shaped cells. The enamelled design of the wings and back are symmetrical being formed by irregular curvi-linear shaped panels and cells filled with a red or yellow enamel and possibly a decayed white coloured paste. The division between the panels seem to be silvered (or tinned?).The brooch measures 31.8mm in length, 19.0mm width, and is 24.8mm high; it weighs 6.22 grams.The brooch is of a mid-light green colour with an even patina which covers all the un-enamelled surfaces. There are patches of corrosion which have eaten into the surface of the brooch leaving some areas slightly pitted. This pitting has destroyed or distorted some of the decoration present and in places has caused perforations in the metalwork. There are also a few areas of light green powdery active corrosion around the edge of the brooch, as well as on the pin and associated lugs.Similar zoomorphic brooches can be seen in 'A Visual Catalogue of Richard Hattatt's Ancient Brooches' (2000: Oxbow; Oxford. page 360 figure 219). The closest parallels being 167 from Ipswich Suffolk and the other 620 from Wiltshire. Excavated examples can be seen in the corpus of material from Castleford , Yorkshire (1998: p53 cat 112) and Colchester (Crummy: 1995 p16 cat no 75). These brooches are usually attributed to the 2nd century AD with a core distribution in East Anglia. The cockerel was an attribute to the Roman god Mercury, symbolising the 'new day'
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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