Purse lid from the ship-burial at Sutton Hoo
Anglo-Saxon, early 7th century AD
From Mound 1, Sutton Hoo, Suffolk, England
The display of wealth
Wealth, and its public display, was probably used to establish
status in early Anglo-Saxon society much as it is today. The purse
lid from Sutton Hoo is the richest of its kind yet found.
The lid was made to cover a leather pouch containing gold coins.
It hung by three hinged straps from the waist belt, and was
fastened by a gold buckle. The lid had totally decayed but was
probably made of whale-bone ivory - a precious material in early
Anglo-Saxon England. Seven gold, garnet cloisonné and
millefiori glass plaques were set into it. These are made with a
combination of very large garnets and small ones, deliberately used
to pick out details of the imagery. This combination
could link the purse-lid and the shoulder-clasps to the
workshop of a single mastercraftsman, who may well have made the
entire suite of gold and garnet fittings as a single
commission.
The plaques include twinned images of a man standing heroically
between two wolves and an eagle swooping on its prey. These images
must have had deep significance, but it is impossible for us
to interpret them. The wolves could be a reference to the dynastic
name of the family buried at Sutton Hoo - the Wuffingas (Wolf's
People). Like the eagle, they are perhaps a powerful evocation of
strength and courage, qualities that a successful leader of men
must possess. Strikingly similar images of a man between beasts are
known from Scandinavia.
R.L.S. Bruce-Mitford, The Sutton Hoo ship burial-2, vol. 2: arms, armour and regalia (London, The British Museum Press, 1978)
A.C. Evans, The Sutton Hoo ship burial, revised edition (London, The British Museum Press, 1994)