Circular Attachment with Stylized Dragon

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Artist
Name	Unknown
Basic Info
Alternative Title	Circular Attachment with Rectangular Tang Extending from Top, Lion or Dragon facing right with traces of gilding on head and gold wires hammered into grooves on body, wings (?) and hind quarters
Period	Middle Ages, Early
Created in	Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe
Century	6th-7th century
Culture	Anglo-Saxon
Dimensions	3.8 x 2.7 x 0.2 cm (1 1/2 x 1 1/16 x 1/16 in.)
Harvard Museum
Department	Department of Ancient and Byzantine Art & Numismatics
Division	Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact	am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu

Context

This circular attachment joins a disc with gold-wire dragon decoration to a rectangular tang. A very regular circular hole pierces the middle of the disc. There is an irregular elliptical hole at the top of the disc and a more regular elliptical hole at the bottom of the tang. The disc is surrounded by a raised border, as is the tang. The tang has further geometric decoration. The disc bears a stylized animal, a dragon facing right. The front paw rests on the curve of the disc, the back just above the tang. The wings curl slightly in the field at the left. Further lines decorate the body of the dragon. The back is flat and featureless.

Although the three holes indicate that the object was meant to attach to something, its use is currently unclear.

Lisa M. Anderson

TechnicalDetails

Chemical Composition

Technical Observations

The majority of the surface has a light olive green patina, which is covered with a thick layer of translucent light brown wax. This combination of materials is particularly built up on the back. There seems to be no deep-seated corrosion or cuprite below the green layer, which would be an indication of long-term burial. Black organic-looking material seems to have been painted along some of the inscribed decorations. It is uncertain whether the slight variation in the green color in the X-shape on the tang is significant.
 
The object could have been cast or cut out of sheet metal. There are two types of gilded areas: a fine layer on top of a number of the concave lines that seems to stand proud of much of the surrounding surface and flat polished areas that appear to have been ground down to the base metal. However, XRF analysis of the latter indicates the presence of significant gold and mercury, which are usually evidence of mercury gilding. Perhaps the gilding protected the underlying metal from corrosion, and this may account for the oddly misaligned surface. The fine lines appear to have been created with a thin straight-edged punch, and in a few areas, one can still make out the tool marks. The rippled texture on the gilded lines was created by the same punch to enhance the lines. 
 
Francesca G. Bewer (submitted 2012)

Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Purchase through the generosity of Mrs. Waltrud Lampé and the Marion H. Phinney Fund