mount;
fitting
- Museum number
- 2007,8022.1
- Description
-
Square, silver, parcel-gilt, cast mount. Deeply recessed within a grooved outer frame, a border of acanthus fronds surrounds a central domed square decorated with an equal-armed cross with lozenge-shaped ends and a square-framed quatrefoil at its centre. Between the arms are acanthus tufts. Silverish traces around the edge of the mount were identified as probable niello. The otherwise plain back has two complete and two broken attachment lugs.
- Production date
- 9thC
- Dimensions
-
Height: 14 millimetres
-
Length: 30 millimetres
-
Width: 30 millimetres
- Curator's comments
-
Webster & Backhouse 1991
This piece of high-class Carolingian metalwork was probably originally a fitment on sword or horse harness; its elegant acanthus decoration exemplifies the Carolingian influence which shaped the future of Anglo-Saxon art in the tenth century. The discovery of this piece at the ‘burh’ of Wareham may reflect Wessex contacts with the Carolingian empire or possibly the Viking army's sojourn there in 875-6.
-
Scientific analysis carried out (CDS analytical request no. AR2007/53), in object file.
- Location
- On display (G41/dc3/sC)
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
Making of England, 1991, cat. no. 256
- Acquisition date
- 2007
- Acquisition notes
- Lent the mount, which was found in his front garden, to 'Making of England' in 1991 and donated the object to P&E in 2007.
- Department
- Britain, Europe and Prehistory
- Registration number
- 2007,8022.1
