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Description: | An Early Medieval gilded copper-alloy saucer brooch. The brooch is made from one piece of metal, is circular and has a rim raised at an angle. The brooch has a central incised cruciform design surrounded by a single concentric circle. The outer border is plain and undecorated. The convex reverse is undecorated, with only a catch plate remaining. The brooch is 21.1mm in diameter, 2.4mm thick and weighs 4.09g.This brooch is similar in size to a button brooch, but button brooches are defined as being decorated with a human face. Suzuki argues that they are derived from full-face roundels found on Scandinavian relief brooches of the Jutlandic Group (2008, 245-7), not from the similarly shaped but differently decorated saucer brooches (2008, 291-309).A brooch like this one, which is decorated in the geometric style found on some saucer brooches, must therefore be categorised with the saucer brooches. Suzuki points out that there are a few "small (button-brooch-sized) saucer brooches decorated with geometric designs (such as spirals and concentric circles) and without a human mask, as exemplified by Kempston 19.1 (Avent and Evison's designation), several 'button-type' brooches from Frenouville (Avent and Evison 1982, pl. XVIII) and a recent find from Fluy" (p. 309, note 1). These brooches, called 'button-type' by Avent and Evison, range from 15 to 23 mm in diameter.Small saucer brooches recorded on the PAS database include IOW-A44C21, which is 17mm in surviving diameter; KENT-355DA7, which is 20mm in diameter; and KENT-007C80, which is 20.5mm in diameter.Tania Dickinson has commented on IOW-A44C21: "There is a range of button-brooch size brooches found on either side of the Channel which have spiral and other geometric motifs, and sometimes garnet settings. A hitherto small group, the range is widening as more get found."The geometric three-strand cross in a circle on this brooch is different to the 'normal' cross of a saucer brooch, which has scrolled ('floriate') ends often dominating the design, but these small brooches do have rather various designs and so this is not unexpected. This brooch should date from c. 450 AD to c. 550 AD.
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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