EARLY MEDIEVAL BROOCH

450

Anglo-Saxon cast copper alloy button brooch with a gilt surface. This brooch is an example of Avent and Evison Class Ai. Button brooches are circular in shape and resemble miniature saucer brooches, although the relationship between these two brooch classes is not clear. The brooch is 21.48mm in diameter, has a maximum thickness of 8.21mm and weighs 4.62 grams. The brooch is worn and corroded on the raised decoration and the rim, with gilding remaining only in the recesses on the brooch and on the decorative border. This example has an upturned rim with damaged edges. The upper face is decorated with a face-mask motif, which is comprised of 7 different elements. There is a pointed helmet with upturned ends, with a series of circular punchmarks running along its length. Immediately below the helmet are curved eyebrows with upturned ends. There is a singular, central circular punchmark in the centre of the eyebrow element, immediately above where the eyebrow joins to a narrow nose which flairs out at the nostrils. The eyes are small and rounded with heavily worn, curved, well placed eye-rings below. The cheeks are full and angular, with a single punchmark in the centre of each. The use of punch-mark decoration on the cheeks is unparalleled, it is not noted in the Avent and Evison classification of 1983 for any class of button brooch. The right cheek is slightly higher and at a more vertical alignment than the left cheek. The face has an open mouth with the top curved bar slightly extending over the lower curved bar, possibly to imitate a moustache. There is further decoration surrounding the face-mask, which is comprised of a flat decorative border with a ring of small circular punchmarks or beading on its inside edge. The reverse of the brooch has the remains of a pin lug and a catchplate, neither of which are surrounded by iron corrosion which implies that a copper alloy pin was originally attached to the brooch, or the iron pin was lost before it began to corrode. There are some examples of button brooches with copper alloy pins in Avent and Evison, however the majority of button brooches employed an iron pin. The pin was positioned across the face at a slight angle, with the pin lug at 294 degrees and the catchplate at 114 degrees; these angles correspond to the face of the brooch as opposed to the reverse so they are comparable with the measurements from Avent and Evison’s research.