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Description: | An incomplete and rather worn copper alloy gilt Late Early-Medieval asymmetrical mount in the English Urnes style (c.1000-1100). It has five incorporated holes, presumably for rivets (now missing), three of which are worn through and incomplete.The mount is in the form of a protruding animal head terminal modelled in relief, at the end of a long neck of a Urnes-style quadruped which forms a spiral loop, so that in plan, the mount has the shape of a ragged-edged rounded-cornered lozenge, with a single long projecting knop (the zoomorphic head and neck) leading from one corner. The body of the beast is interlaced around irregularly spaced holes ringed around three sides of it, including a slightly larger central hole (3.10mm diameter) with three smaller holes above (c.1.5-2mm diameter) and five slightly larger (2.6-3mm) curving down towards the zoomorphic terminal and back again to the central hole. There are further holes at the three corners of the lozenge (one worn through opposite the terminal), to one side of the projecting terminal, and on the other wide between the projecting terminal and one of the complete holes. The irregular spacing may relate to the positioning of the quadruped. The back is slightly concave and the front slightly convex while the projecting knop is D-shaped in section. To the underside is a worn and (now) sharp projection c.3mm long and 2.2mm in diameter (narrowing to the sharp end). The end of the terminal is slightly jagged and possibly indicates another (lost) hole, as other examples of this object type show.The surface of the mount is very worn and has lost almost all of its original patina. It is now brown/ purple in colour with tiny traces of gilding apparent where the patina remains, mostly inside the irregularly-placed holes.Parallels on this database include NARC2639, SF-049AF5, SUR-3288E6, HAMP1421, NARC-E78621 and SUSS-036066. Read (2001, 11; ref. 63) has published an identical seeming mount. These parallels suggest probably two of the holes in the main lozenge and probably a further hole at the end of the head terminal (now lost) held rivets. Measures 38.10mm by 26.68mm and is 6.99mm in height, the body being 5.33mm thick; weighs 7.10g.With thanks to Laura Burnett for the identification of this object.
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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