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Description: | Description: Early Anglo-Saxon gold and garnet cloisonné circular domed object, perhaps a scabbard-button, or mount or stud from an unidentified object. It consists of a circular sheet back-plate with an outer border on the upper face formed from a single piece of thick, neatly beaded wire, within which a gold sheet, the lower part vertical before curving inwards, forms the edge of the originally domed upper face. Originally twelve cells were formed within the encircling gold sheet. A central quatrefoil tube is divided internally into four cells by vertical gold partitions (one of which is crushed or partially missing). Eight outer cells are formed from eight vertical gold partitions radiating from the quatrefoil cell (three of which are missing or crushed), their upper edges curved to meet the upper edge of the encircling outer gold sheet. Six purple garnets survive, cut to the shape of the cells with curved outer faces to form the dome, all now pushed down into their cells. There is a seventh fragment of garnet which had become separated from the object. No impressed foils can be seen in either the empty cells or behind the surviving garnets.On the reverse is a central hole with partially neatly cut and partially torn edges, and three rivets, the globular heads of which emerge on the upper face between the beaded wire and the encircling gold sheet collar which forms the edge of the dome. Any staple, lug or loop which was originally attached to or inserted into the hole in the back-plate is now missing.Dimensions: Diameter 19mm. Surviving height 6mm. Weight 4.2g.Discussion: There are several similarly sized gold-and-garnet studs with thick, complex wire frames on the PAS database. NARC-05D4C1, NARC-05D4C1, SF-41D775, WMID-C02AF3, PAS-E9BEA3 and PAS-A78288 all have circular scars on their reverse, and have been identified as components from brooches, pendants or miscellaneous items. NARC-77D046 is similar, but has a long scar on the reverse; NARC-2CE634 and NMS-Z32B24 again are similar, but have the U-shaped loop on the reverse which is characteristic of a scabbard button (see also K0675 from the Staffordshire Hoard, and two examples from Mound 1 at Sutton Hoo (Bruce-Mitford (1978, 295, fig.222)). A larger and more complex example, SF-CB7620 (2005T510), has been identified as a brooch component. The central setting of the early 7th-century Canterbury pendant is c. 13-14mm in diameter and also has a relatively simple domed cloisonné pattern (Webster and Backhouse 1991, no. 10). That these bosses can have variable uses is emphasised by a very unusual item, perhaps a swivel from sword-harness, found at Faversham and now in the British Museum (museum number .1144.'70). It is likely that the same basic design of component was used on all of these items and this stud's function can therefore not be identified further.The scheme of decoration, based on cross and quarter-circle forms, can be paralleled on both the Canterbury and Faversham pieces.Date: Very late 6th or early 7th century, c. 580 to 650 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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