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Description: | Description: Silver strap-end of Thomas's Class A, type 1, originally decorated in Trewhiddle style, but later re-worked to depict a human figure, perhaps imitating a 'Heiligenfibel' or 'Saint' brooch.The original strap-end is extremely well made. It has a split attachment end, although the two halves are now pressed closely together with no gap in between and indeed appear never to have been apart. The attachment end is shaped around two very small rivet holes, c. 0.8mm in diameter, with a tiny point in between. A fan- or pelta-shaped motif below this has a central drop-shaped field (whose pointed end echoes the point between the two rivet holes) and a sub-triangular field to either side. The drop-shaped field is now a yellowish colour (see below); the sub-triangular fields are deeply chip-carved to form inverted pyramids but do not appear to have any gilding.Below, the long edges are smoothly curved and have undecorated borders around a central field of well-preserved niello inlay. The niello is polished absolutely smooth, and survives very well around a reserved pattern of symmetrical Trewhiddle-style plant interlace. The complete design is hard to reconstruct, but it had pairs of curving stems at the top, ending at the upper corners in wide sub-triangular leaves with curled apexes; there are detached silver dots filling the spaces to either side of the leaves. In the centre, another pair of stems curve and cross to end in long triangular leaves which are now cut through. The lower third seems to have interlace and it is possible that here was an animal rather than a plant.The design was at a later stage cut through to form fields with flat bases in the shape of what appears to be a human figure. The fields all have a yellowish tinge, especially around the edges, but this is not gilding or gold solder (see Analysis, below). The recesses may originally have held glass or organic inlays rather than separate gold sheet inlays like those on the Strickland Brooch (in the British Museum) or the Ipsden Heath strap-ends (in the Ashmolean Museum). The recessed fields appear to match the central drop-shaped field within the fan-shaped field, which may also therefore be a modification.The uppermost cut-out field within the central panel is oval, with the lower end slightly narrower, and probably represents a human head with broader forehead and narrower chin. It has cut through and removed both silver and niello; in places some of the keying below the niello is visible, and in other places there is a very neat cut through surviving niello. Around the top of this recess is a reserved silver curve ending in a circle to either end; this is part of the original design, but may have been re-used to represent a nimbus.Below are a pair of slightly curving drop shapes, with the points uppermost, which probably represent sleeved arms. There is a little niello missing to one side of the head and the arm (on the right-hand side as you look at it), probably incidental damage caused by the modification.The lowest field, cut through the interlace, is harder to interpret. It is roughly S-shaped, reminiscent of the head and rump of a backward-looking beast, but with no legs. It may be intended to represent the curved legs of a sitting or kneeling figure.The animal-head terminal is beautifully made, with long sub-triangular ears ending in outward-turning scrolls and originally inlaid with niello, tiny fragments of which appear at the edges of one of the ears; the rest appears to have been engraved away, similarly to the fields in the main panel. There is apparently no gilding or gold solder here, however. Between the ears is a drop-shaped silver boss, and below are domed eyes, one with an empty setting c. 1.1mm in diameter, the other set with a tiny surviving dark glass cabochon. The nose is short, ending in a widely spaced pair of nostrils which are similar empty settings, c. 1mm in diameter. The reverse is undecorated but scratched.Analysis: Non-destructive X-ray fluorescence analysis of the surface indicated a silver content of 93-96%, copper content of 3-5%, and trace levels of lead and gold. The silver was analysed on the back of the strap-end and inside one of the empty inlay cells, with the same result. There is no trace of the original inlay material in the empty cells and there is no evidence for solder; the edges were undercut to hold the inlay mechanically. The cells are c. 0.2 mm deep, considerably deeper than the channels cut in the silver for the niello. There is no keying at the bottom of the cells, unlike for the niello. It was originally suggested that the inlay could have been gold, but t would be unusual for a gold inlay to be so thick, and to be thicker than the niello, which appears to have continued over the missing inlay at some points. Whatever material was in the cells seems to have been removed with little disruption to the undercut edges of the cell, suggesting it decayed during burial rather than being removed by physical intervention. Inlay materials which might be lost during burial and cleaning include glass (there is a small glass bead surviving in the eye of one beast) and organic materials such as bone and shell.Dimensions: Length: 50.54 mm. Width: 15.87 mm. Thickness: 2.65 mm. Weight: 6.7 g.Discussion: The shapes of the recessed fields are reminiscent of the enamelled designs on 'Heiligenfibeln' or 'Saint' brooches, a predominantly German brooch type used in the late 8th or 9th centuries (Buckton in Vince 1991, 144-5). As scientific analysis has identified the likely materials for the inlay to include glass, this parallel becomes increasingly pertinent, but the strap-end remains extremely unusual. It may never have been finished (the split end does not appear ever to have accommodated a strap) and why its design was so radically revised, apparently quite close in time to its manufacture, is a mystery.Date: The use of the Trewhiddle style dates this strap-end broadly to the ninth century. The alteration to the design appears to have taken place within the same century.
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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