This object comes from the Vermand Treasure, the most richly appointed barbarian-warrior grave ever found. The grave was likely that of an auxiliary soldier stationed in the Roman province of Gaul. It also contained a shield, parts of which of which are on view in the Arms and Armor Galleries.
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Four objects from the Vermand Treasure: Left: 17.192.144; Center: 17.192.145; Upper right: 17.192.143; Lower right: 17.192.146
Artwork Details
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Title:Belt Buckle
Date:ca. 400
Geography:Made in Gaul
Culture:Late Roman
Medium:Silver-gilt, niello
Dimensions:Overall: 2 3/8 x 1 3/4 x 1/4 in., 1.1oz. (6 x 4.5 x 0.7 cm, 31g)
Classification:Metalwork-Silver
Credit Line:Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917
Accession Number:17.192.146
Found in Vermand, northern France; Albert Jumel, Amiens; Stanislas Baron, Paris; J. Pierpont Morgan (American), London and New York (until 1917)
Petit Palais, Musée des Beaux Arts de la Ville de Paris. "Exposition universelle de 1900. L'exposition retrospective de l'art francais," April 14–November 12, 1900.
Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art. "The Pierpont Morgan Treasures. Loan exhibition in honor of the Junius Spencer Morgan Memorial," November 10, 1960–December 18, 1960.
Kurfürstliches Schloss. "Gallien in der Spätantike: von Kaiser Constantin zu Frankenkönig Childerich," October 29, 1980–May 3, 1981.
Musée du Luxembourg. "A l'aube de la France: La Gaule de Constantin a Childeeric," February 26–May 3, 1981.
Eck, Théophile. "Le Cimetière Gallo-Romain de Vermand (Aisne)." Bulletin archéologique du Comité des travaux historiques et scientifiques (1887). pp. 184–201.
Jumel Albert, and Jules Pilloy. "Le tombeau militaire de Vermand." Bulletin Archeologique du Comite des traveaux historiques 5 (1887). pp. 213–23, pl. I.
Pilloy, Jules. "Coup d'oeil général sur les découvertes d'Antiquités Préhistoriques, Gauloises, Romaines, Mérovingiennes et Carlovingiennes, faites dans le département de l'Aisne depuis 1858." Congrès archéologique de France 54 (1888). pp. 135–40.
Eck, Theophile. Les deux cimetières gallo-romains de Vermand et de Saint-Quentin. Paris, 1891. pp. 21–23, 120–34, 252–58, pl. II.
Pilloy, Jules. Études sur d'anciens lieux de sépulture dans l'Aisne. Vol. 2. Paris, 1895. pp. 38–51.
Boulanger, Claude. Le Mobilier funeraire Gallo-Romain et Franc en Picardie et en Artois. Paris: Charles Foulard, 1902–1905. pp. xiv, xxiv–xxv, 45–50, pl. 19.
Ricci, Seymour de. Catalogue of a Collection of Merovingian Antiquities Belonging to J. Pierpont Morgan. Paris: C. Berger, 1910. no. 146, pp. 28–31, pl. X, XI.
Breck, Joseph, and Meyric R. Rogers. The Pierpont Morgan Wing: A Handbook. 1st ed. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1925. p. 6, fig. 3d.
Breck, Joseph, and Meyric R. Rogers. The Pierpont Morgan Wing: A Handbook. 2nd ed. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1929. p. 6, fig. 3d.
Leeds, E. T. Early Anglo-Saxon Art and Archaeology. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1936. pp. 4–5, 11.
Metropolitan Museum of Art. Mediaeval Jewelry: A Picture Book. New York: Museum Press Limited, 1940. pl. 8.
Salin, Edouard, and Albert France-Lanord. Le fer a l'epoque merovingienne. Rhin et orient. Paris: Librairie Orientaliste Paul Geuthner, 1943. pp. 99–101, 195.
Metropolitan Museum of Art. Mediaeval Jewelry: A Picture Book. 2nd ed. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1944. pl. 8.
Ricketson, Edith B. "Barbarian Jewelry of the Merovingian Period." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., 5, no. 5 (January 1947). p. 143.
Wagner de Kertesz, Margarita. Historia Universal de las Joyas. Buenos Aires: Ediciones Centurion, 1947. p. 223.
Salin, Edouard, and Albert France-Lanord. "Le mobilier funéraire de La Bussière-Étable près Châteauponsac (Haute-Vienne)." Comptes rendus des séances de l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres 93, no. 2 (1949). p. 159.
Forsyth, W. H. "Provincial Roman enamels recently acquired by the M.M.A." The Art Bulletin 32, no. 4 (December 1950). p. 306, fig. 15.
Werner, Joachim. "Zur Entstehung der Reihengräberzivilisation: ein Beitrag zur Methode der frühgeschichtlichen Archäologie." Archaeologia geographica I (April 1950). pp. 23–32.
Forsyth, W. H. "The Vermand Treasure." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., 9, no. 9 (May 1951). pp. 236–40, ill.
Holmqvist, Wilhelm. Tauschierte Metallarbeiten des Nordens: aus Römerzeit und Völkerwanderung. Stockholm: Wahlström & Widstrand, 1951. p. 23.
Rorimer, James J., and William Holmes Forsyth. "The Medieval Galleries." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., 12, no. 6 (February 1954). p. 122.
Evison, Vera I. The Fifth Century Invasions South of the Thames. London: University of London, 1965. pp. 11–12.
Hoving, Thomas. "The Thread of Patronage: The Medieval Collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Cloisters." Apollo 82, no. 43 (September 1965). p. 188, fig. 10.
Nickel, Helmut. Warriors and Worthies: Arms and Armor Through the Ages. New York: Atheneum, 1969. p. 33, illus.
Hachmann, Rolf. Die Germanen. Archaeologia Mundi, Vol. 5. Munich: Wilhelm Heyne, 1971. no. 101, 102, p. 195, ill.
Beeson, Nora B., ed. Guide to The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1972. no. 10, p. 211, fig. 10.
Böhme, Horst Wolfgang. Germanische Grabfunde des 4 bis 5 Jahrhunderts zwischen unterer Elbe und Loire: Volume 1, Text. Beck, 1974. pp. 330–31.
Germanische Grabfunde des 4 bis 5 Jahrhunderts zwischen unterer Elbe und Loire, Vol. 2: Plates. Beck, 1974. pl. 137.
Gallien in der Spätantike: Von Kaiser Constantin zu Frankenkönig Childerich. Mainz: Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum, 1981. no. 271, pp. 173–76.
Coquelle, Jacques. La mémoire de Vermand. Vol. 1. Amiens: Dalmanio, 1985. pp. 67–75, ill. p. 72.
Schorsch, Deborah. "The Vermand Treasure: A Testimony to the Presence of the Sarmatians in the Western Roman Empire." Metropolitan Museum Journal 21 (1986). pp. 17–40, fig. 6.
Brown, Katharine R. Migration Art, A.D. 300-800. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1995. no. 14, p. 21.
Brown, Katharine R., Dafydd Kidd, and Charles T. Little, ed. From Attila to Charlemagne: Arts of the Early Medieval Period in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York and New Haven: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000. p. 78, 351, fig. 3d, 8.1.
Neumayer, Heino. "Die gallo-römischen Funde aus Frankreich im Department of Medieval Art des Metropolitan Museum of Art." Acta Praehistorica et Archaeologica 48 (2016). pp. 100, 102, fig. 10, 16 (2).
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