Disk Brooch with Inset Silver Interlace

1 of 2

Artist
Name	Unknown
Basic Info
Period	Middle Ages, Early
Created in	Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe
Century	7th-11th century
Culture	Anglo-Saxon
Dimensions	3.03 cm (1 3/16 in.)
Harvard Museum
Department	Department of Ancient and Byzantine Art & Numismatics
Division	Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact	am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu

Context

A tendril design, emerging from a square around a central depressed circle, covers the face of this circular disc brooch (1). A double line emerges from each of the four corners of the square and interlocks with other tendrils. A silvery sheen survives on many areas of the tendril design. The loop catch and hinge are present on the back, although the pin is lost.
 
NOTES:
 
1. Compare D. M. Wilson, Anglo-Saxon Ornamental Metalwork 700-1100 in the British Museum (London, 1964) 208, no. 151, pl. 43 (dated to the eleventh century); R. Hattatt, Brooches of Antiquity: A Third Selection of Brooches from the Author’s Collection (Oxford, 1987) 318, no. 1313 (called Viking of the tenth to eleventh centuries); a disc brooch at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, inv. no. 53.48.6, published in J. P. Lamm, “Some Scandinavian Art Styles,” in From Attila to Charlemagne: Arts of the Early Medieval Period in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, eds. K. R. Brown, D. Kidd, and C. T. Little (New York, 2000) 308-21, esp. 310, fig. 25.2 (called Vendelic of the seventh century).
 
Lisa M. Anderson

TechnicalDetails

Chemical Composition

Technical Observations

The surface color is predominantly grayish black but is also metallic gray, tan, green, cupritic red, brown, and black. Rusty-looking burial remains are caught in the hinge loop and suggest that the now-missing pin may have been made of iron.
 
The body of the disc, the hinge loop, and catchplate were joined in the wax and cast in one piece, probably using the lost-wax process. The catchplate looks as though it was also a loop that was cut open on one side. It is difficult to ascertain exactly how the design on the front was fashioned, as much of the surface is concealed by a variety of materials, especially in the recessed areas. These consist of burial accretions and possibly the remains of deteriorated inlay material; a fine layer of the obscuring materials also covers much of the back. The recessed areas do appear to be somewhat textured, as if to provide a better grip for inlay or overlay materials. At least part of the surface would have been finished in the metal. 
 
Francesca G. Bewer (submitted 2012)

Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Purchase through the generosity of Mrs. Waltrud Lampé