Clasp or Buckle from Sutton Hoo

Clasp or Buckle from Sutton Hoo

"Curved gold dummy buckle or clasp of elongated triangular form. The loop is decorated with cloisonné garnet work, comprising one band of a running step-pattern, and one of plain rectangular and keystone cells. The buckle has a cut-away dummy tongue. Below the loop and 'tongue' are two prominent plain gold circular bosses qith beaded wire collars, each set with a circular cabochon garnet. These conceal rivets which connect with a back-plate of plain beaten gold. At the toe of the buckle is a large circular setting containing a cloisonné garnet step-pattern design, surrounded by a double collar of beaded wire. Below this was a rivet, now missing, which also connected with the back-plate. The whole piece is decorated with cloisonné garnet work, consisting chiefly of step-cut and mushroom cells. Virtually all cells are underlaid with stamped gold foil, but two or three curved stones on the shoulders of the loop may lack foil underlays." (British Museum Catalogue, https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/H_1939-1010-10)

The British Museum

early 7th century

(C) The Trustees of the British Museum. Shared under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) licence.

gold, garnet

early medieval England