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Identification and Creation

Object Number
2002.54
Title
Disk Brooch with Inset Silver Interlace
Classification
Jewelry
Work Type
pin, fibula
Date
7th-11th century
Places
Creation Place: Ancient & Byzantine World, Europe
Period
Middle Ages, Early
Culture
Anglo-Saxon
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/142166

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Mixed copper alloy
Technique
Cast, lost-wax process
Dimensions
3.03 cm (1 3/16 in.)
Technical Details

Chemical Composition: XRF data from Artax 1
Alloy: Mixed Copper Alloy
Alloying Elements: copper, tin, lead, zinc
Other Elements: iron
K. Eremin, January 2014

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)

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
[Joseph Linzalone, Wolfshead Gallery, Ridgewood, NJ, sold]; to the Harvard University Art Museums, 2002.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Purchase through the generosity of Mrs. Waltrud Lampé
Accession Year
2002
Object Number
2002.54
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Descriptions

Published Catalogue Text: Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes at the Harvard Art Museums
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

Publication History

  • Susanne Ebbinghaus, ed., Ancient Bronzes through a Modern Lens: Introductory Essays on the Study of Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Bronzes, Harvard Art Museum and Yale University Press (Cambridge, MA, 2014), p. 60

Subjects and Contexts

  • Ancient Bronzes

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu