MEDIEVAL BROOCH

1200

Medieval brooch: a figurative silver-gilt brooch, representing a man in combat with a lion. The man wears a knee-length tunic, decorated with tiny punches. He carries what appears to be a club in his right hand, and protects himself with a kite-shaped shield against his left shoulder. The front paws of the rampant lion are fixed into the shield. They stand on a foliate terminal, the man in an attitude of contrapposto, as he and the lion turn to observe the onlooker. The miniature brooch-pin extends from the groin of the lion to the right ankle of the adversary.