- Museum number
- 1939,1010.4.a
- Description
-
One half of a gold shoulder-clasp inlaid with garnet cloisonné and glass. This clasp carries the opposite half of a hinge mechanism that links it to shoulder-clasp 1939,1010.4 (which carries the chain and pin).
The clasp is curved in section and consists of a rectangular plate with rounded end. The hinge runs along the straight end. The clasp has loops for attaching it to a garment underneath.
The rectangular plate contains a central panel of fifteen cloisonné cells filled alternately with millefiori glass and garnets. These are interspersed with slightly larger plain garnet cells. The central panel is bordered on each side with designs of interlacing beasts, their bodies formed of inlaid garnets and their eyes of blue glass.
The rounded end contains a design of two interlinked boars, executed in garnet cloisonné. Their heads are down, and their curved backs from the rounded end of the clasp. Their hip-joints are inlaid with millefiori glass. The spaces between their legs are filled with a gold filigree design of snake-like creatures. The cells behind the boars’ back legs are lidded with gold foil.
The garnet cells are underlaid with stamped gold foil.
- Production date
- late 6thC-early 7thC (c. AD 560/70-610)
- Dimensions
-
Length: 12.70 centimetres (incl 4)
-
Weight: 87.84 grammes (excluding 4)
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Thickness: 0.50 centimetres
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Width: 5.40 centimetres
- Curator's comments
- Published:
King, M., 2014. Besette swinlicum: Sources for the Iconography of the Sutton Hoo Shoulder-clasps. In: Owen-Crocker, G. R. and Schneider, B. W. (eds.), The Anglo_Saxons: The World Through Their Eyes. Oxford: Archaeopress. BAR British Series 595, pp. 89–102
Adams, N., 2010. Rethinking the Sutton Hoo Shoulder Clasps and Armour. In: Entwistle, C. and Adams, N. (eds.), Intelligible Beauty: Recent Research on Byzantine Jewellery. London: British Museum Press, pp. 83–112
- Location
- On display (G41/dc1/sG)
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
2022 16 May – 30 Oct, Suffolk, Sutton Hoo, The Staffordshire Hoard at Sutton Hoo
2003 22 Mar-12 Oct, Woodbridge, Sutton Hoo Exhibition Centre, Far Fetched Treasures
2008 15 Mar-2 Nov, Woodbridge, Suffolk, Sutton Hoo Visitor Centre, East Anglia: The Life and Death of a Kingdom
1980 10 Mar-30 Sep, Sweden, Stockholm, Statens Historika Museum, The Vikings are Here
- Acquisition date
- 1939
- Department
- Britain, Europe and Prehistory
- Registration number
- 1939,1010.4.a
- Additional IDs
-
Miscellaneous number: 1939,10-10,4b (former number)
