A GERMANIC GILDED ALLOY BOW FIBULA

CIRCA 5TH CENTURY A.D.

Details

A GERMANIC GILDED ALLOY BOW FIBULA
CIRCA 5TH CENTURY A.D.
With splayed foot-plate and knobbed terminal, the body with two 'collars' of rope pattern and beaded wire decoration, 2¾ in. (7 cm.) long; a silver 'T'-shaped fibula, the fluted bow and foot plate decorated with band of wound silver wire and five beaded discs, the coiled spring with high curving wire loop, 2 in. (5.2 cm.) long; a gold cloissonè fibula plaque in the form of a rosette, traces of inlay, 1¼ in. (3.2 cm.) diam.; a silver alloy backing plate for a disc fibula, 1.5/8 in. (4.1 cm.) diam.; and a repoussè gold quatrefoil fibula decorated with four bird heads around a central circular pale blue glass inlay, riveted to a bronze backing plate, the reverse with remains of pin attachment, 1.7/8 in. (4.6 cm.) square (5)

Lot Essay

Cf. Germanen, Hunnen und Awaren, Nrnberg, 1987, p. 412, pl. 62 and p. 536, fig. XIII,4a for a similar fibula to item one; and K. Reynolds Brown, Migration Art A.D. 300-800, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1995, p. 15, pl. 11 for a 7th-8th Century A.D. gold and bronze quatrefoil fibula.

More from Antiquities

View All