EARLY MEDIEVAL BROOCH

950

Copper alloy, glass and enamel disc brooch comprising a back plate with six equidistant knops of 4.5mm diameter, each with a collet retaining a rounded stone or bead (one is lost) of between 1.3 and 2.4mm diameter. The smallest stone is dark translucent blue, the next (viewed clockwise) is opaque sky blue, then white (the largest stone), opaque or marbled sky blue, and finally a clear translucent stone revealing a reflective and possibly silvered backing. Brazed to the back plate is a circular cloisonné setting with a rim of height circa 3mm within which a border of six semi-circular cells define an irregularly six pointed star with a central round compartment. The semi-circular cells are filled with thick (at least 1.2mm thick where it is revealed by loss of part of the rim) dark blue enamel, the star-shaped field with marbled sky blue and white enamel, and the central cell with semi-opaque white glass. The centre of the latter element is lightly chipped. The cloisonné cell borders and the back plate retain extensive traces of gilding.Provision for fastening comprises a curled catch plate and a pair of lugs which retain the axis bar on which is looped a drawn wire pin of diameter 0.8mm and length circa 16mm.This is a well preserved Late Saxon brooch form, of which several examples are displayed at North Lincolnshire Museum; from Swallow, Horkstow and Elsham. See Buckton 1986 for a discussion of the type.The quality of cloisonné work falls short of that of earlier garnet settings. The effect of the polychrome enamel and stones is immediately striking, but the survival of the delicate wire pin is perhaps as important and must argue an essentially decorative function for this light piece - it could not have functioned as a dress fastener. The 12th-century text ascribed to the monk Theophilus includes an early reference to the use of a perforated plate for drawing wire, but this earlier object must also have been equipped with a pin made in this way. Early Medieval, 950-1050.Diameter (knop to knop): 26.3mm, Thickness (clear of pin gear): 5.2mm, Weight: 5.45gms.