strap-fitting;
strap-end
- Museum number
- 1989,0303.6
- Description
-
Silver cast strap-end, with single rivet at split end and round-eared animal head at the other. The central field has an incised Trewhiddle style winged creature with head lappets and an interlacing tail, reserved against a nielloed background, now mostly missing. The top left corner of the front-plate is missing. The back is scratched.
- Production date
- 9thC(early)
- Dimensions
-
Length: 40.50 millimetres
-
Width: 11 millimetres
- Curator's comments
- Webster & Backhouse 1991
The Whitby (reg. no. W.52) and Trewhiddle strap-ends (reg. no. 1880,0410.14) appear to be the only other single-riveted silver versions of the genre, but, the latter being atypically small, the Whitby example is much the closest parallel. Stylistically, the winged beast is very close to animals on the first pair of openwork brooches in the Pentney Hoard (reg. nos 1980,1008.1-2): a similar date is probable.
This multi-purpose object has a history going back to the Roman period, and continues in occasional use in the sixth and seventh centuries: it appears however to undergo a revival during the eighth century, developing into the ubiquitous ninth-century form known from Cornwall to Sutherland. It is clear from the varying scale and robustness of the many surviving specimens that the type served to protect the ends of textile or leather straps in a variety of functions; for instance, as belt-ends, as sword- or horse-harness-fittings, as purse or satchel strap-fittings and so on. The ninth-century type is consistent in having a riveted split-end and an animal head, however rudimentary, at the other; but within this simple formula there are a number of notable chronological and regional variations. Among the more ambitious examples, for example, there are two distinct animal-head terminal forms, which appear to be different regional types; the version with comma-shaped ears being predominantly northern in its distribution, while the round-eared type is more common in the south. Similarly, a simpler kind of strap-end where panels of animal ornament are replaced by a niello field with inset silver scrolls, is predominantly East Anglian in its distribution and may be considered a local product. From a chronological standpoint, it can be seen that there is a tendency to increased overall size in the later ninth-century strap-ends, probably in response to changing styles of harness and to the growing influence of Carolingian fashions, which led to the universal adoption of the broad tongue-shaped strap-end and its relatives in the tenth century.
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1989
- Department
- Britain, Europe and Prehistory
- Registration number
- 1989,0303.6
- Additional IDs
-
Miscellaneous number: M3248