|
Date: |
|
Description: | An incomplete cast copper-alloy belt or strap mount of Early-Medieval/Anglo-Saxon date. It has a flat, oval shaped plate that tapers to a rectangular base. Extending from the base of the plate are two semi-circular lugs set at right angles to the plane of the plate and with small circular apertures. These have the remains of iron corrosion and presumably originally held in place an iron bar to enable a secondary object to hang from the mount. At each side of the mount are the remains of curving, projecting knops, one of which is now incomplete due to old breaks. The entire front face of the object has moulded decoration in Salin style II. This comprises a raised border within which, at the centre of the plate, is a triangular human face mask with curved/pointed chin, small oval eyes and curving(?) mouth. Extending from the top of the face is a helmet with horned terminals. These are in the form of birds heads with hooked beaks that curve around to meet at the top centre of the plate. The projecting knops to either side of the plate also carry zoomorphic decorative elements, the complete example preserving a birds head/neck with hooked beak and small oval eye. The decorative elements are extremely worn due to post-depositional corrosion, but appear to preserve a white metal coating in places. On the back face of the mount are two integrally cast cylindrical rivets, one at top centre and one at bottom centre of the plate. These presumably enables the mount to be attached to an object such as a leather belt, strap or similar. The entire object measures 28.10mm in length, 31.76mm in width, 2.76mm in thickness (8.28mm including rivets), and 8.39g in weight.This is a decorative mount of Early-Medieval/Anglo-Saxon date. Its precise function is uncertain, however the combination of decorative elements, rivets and suspension lugs suggests that it may have acted as a mount enabling the suspension of a secondary object, perhaps a pendant. The decoration finds parallels in Early Anglo-Saxon metalwork. Most notably, the horned head motif is seen on the Sutton Hoo helmet, the Finglesham buckle (Hawkes and Grainger, 2006: fig. 2.102; cf mount from Finglesham, fig. 2.117), and a series of similar mounts with horned helmets recorded through the PAS (with references) (e.g. LEIC-40DB05, NMS559, HAMP-B292C2, NMS-F90626, BH-9349F3, NMS-F90626, FAHG-8EAAA3, YORYM-024D31, BERK-4F2E17 or HAMP2432). The horned figure has been interpreted in several of these parallels as possibly being a depiction of Odin. The decoration on the current example points to a date range contemporary with the parallels notably from Sutton Hoo and Finglesham, which would indicate a 7th century AD date for the current object. | Publisher: | http://finds.org.uk | Source: | Portable Antiquities | Identifier: | http://finds.org.uk/database/artefacts/r... | Go to resource |
|
More Like this...
-
DIE STAMP
An incomplete cast copper-alloy Early…
-
MOUNT
Cast copper-alloy mount depicting the…
-
MOUNT
Cast copper-alloy mount depicting the…
-
MOUNT
Early Anglo-Saxon cast copper-alloy mount…
-
-
Mount
Cast copper-alloy mount depicting the…
-
SHIELD
A fragment of an Early…
-
-
-
|