14 Old Bond Street, London W1S 4PP - Email: info@rupertwace.co.uk
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| Viking bronze clasp |  |
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Taking the form of an eagle with a large sharply hooked beak and round protruding eyes, the wings are decorated in raised relief with intertwined lines and scrolling motifs decorating the surface. When viewed upside down two spiral elements forming the curved tops of the wings become the eyes of a stylised human face, with a raised element to the neck forming the nose and a small raised nub at the back of the bird's head the mouth. Four small holes at the edges would have attached the element to a leather strap.
Viking. c 10th Century AD
Cf. James Graham-Campbell, 'Viking Artefacts, A Select Catalogue', London, 1980, p. 53, no. 189, and plate 230 for similarly decorated strap ends, found in a cemetery in Lejre, Denmark. Situated below the knees of a skeleton it is thought they could have been used as bootstraps or garter-bands. |
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Rupert Wace Ancient Art
14 Old Bond Street, London W1S 4PP - Email: info@rupertwace.co.uk |
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