- Museum number
- 2001,0501.1
- Title
- Object: The Braganza Brooch
- Description
-
Gold fibula, of long-footed form decorated with the figure of a naked warrior, wearing a Celtic helmet, with scabbard suspended from his waist and carrying a sword (scabbard and pommel are both of La Tène type), with another figure of a hunting dog jumping up to him. The eyes of both figures were originally inlaid with glass 'enamel'. The arched bow has eight curls and the side panels are elaborated with running spirals and loops, also originally inlaid with blue glass 'enamel'. Each end of the brooch is terminated by a dog's head. The hinge or spring and pin are now lost. The long foot of the fibula comprises two thick wires, twisted together and terminated with another dog's head, jaws agape and ears raised.
- Production date
- 250BC-200BC
- Dimensions
-
Height: 5 centimetres
-
Width: 14 centimetres
-
Depth: 2.50 centimetres
- Curator's comments
- The fibula is probably from a burial or hoard. It was was probably made by a Greek craftsman active on the Iberian Peninsula (modern Spain and Portugal) though neither its precise place of manufacture nor its findspot can be determined precisely.
- Location
- On display (G22/dc5)
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
2003-2004 Oct-Jan, London, Hayward Gallery, 'Saved!100 Years of the National Art Collections Fund', no.219
2007 1 May-31 Jul, Spain, Museo Arqueologico Nacional de Madrid, 'The Hero and the Monster',
2009-2010 11 Dec-10 May, Madrid, Canal de Isabel II, Treasures of the World's Cultures
2015-2016, 24 Sep-31 Jan, London, BM, G30, Celts:Art and Identity.
2016, 11 Mar-25 Sep, Edinburgh, National Museum of Scotland, Celts: Art and Identity
- Acquisition date
- 2001
- Acquisition notes
- The brooch was formerly in the collection of the Royal House of Braganza and perhaps collected by Fernando II (Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg), consort of Queen Maria of Portugal. Most of the jewels of the Braganza dynasty were inherited in 1919 by HRH Nevada of Portugal, Princess d'Braganza and Duchesse d'Oporto. She emigrated to America and on her death in 1941 the collection was sold by her heirs to Warren Piper of Chicago.
The fibula was purchased by Thomas.F. Flannery Jr in 1950 at the Warren Piper sale. After examination at the British Museum in 1965, it was displayed at the "Early Celtic Art" exhibition of 1970, held in Edinburgh and the Hayward Gallery, London. From 1993 until 2000 it was on loan to the British Museum.
- Department
- Greek and Roman
- Registration number
- 2001,0501.1
