The region of Kent, in southeastern England, was an important center of Anglo-Saxon jewelry production of the type represented by this delicate, brightly colored piece. The interlace patterns created by gold filigree and the polished garnets reflect the high quality of goods worn by individuals in life and later buried with them.
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Title:Disk Brooch
Date:early 600s
Geography:Made in Faversham, England
Culture:Anglo-Saxon
Medium:Gold with garnets, glass, and niello
Dimensions:Overall: 1 7/8 x 7/16 x 1/16 in. (4.7 x 1.1 x 0.2 cm)
Classification:Metalwork-Gold
Credit Line:Purchase, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, 1987
Object Number:1987.90.1
The three Kentish pieces were excavated in 1894 in Teynham, three miles from the center of production of Kentish jewerly in Faversham. The large brooch (right) is made of two parts: a silver-gilt backplate and a gold front plate consisting of cloisonné inlay, annular in shape, with four triangular settings radiating from it. Between these settings are others similar to the center setting. The interstices are decorated with bands of filigree. Whereas the filigree represents a revival of Roman techniques, the use of gold and garnets was due directly to the Franks; in fact, it is now beleived by most scholars that Anglo-Saxon cloisonné was produced to order in continental workshops. The pattern of the filigree as well as the design of the gold front plate with the star-shaped cloisonné inlay typify Kentish jewerly from the late sixth to the early seventh century.
Excavated with the brooch was the gold disk pendant (center) decorated with gold wire and cloisonné garnets, which form a star-shaped pattern with a single cell encircling each tip of the star. The central cell, which has patterened foil across the bottom, is empty. A design formed of twisted wires between beaded wires fills the remaining areas of the pendant. The second pendant (left), although not from the same find, also comes from Teynham; it was in the Kennard Collection as well, and was sold by Sotheby's in 1895 with the other two items. (The central cloisonné designs of both pendants are alike.) Four bosses fill the interstices between the points of the star. The rest of the surface is ornamented with heart-shaped filigreee motifs. Only one interstitial boss and the central cell retain their garnets.
Pendants such as these were rare in the sixth century, and came into vogue only at the end of that century and the beginning of the seventh. The pendant found with the brooch led Avent to conclude that the latter dates to the seventh century.
All three objects would be a tribute to the collection of any major museum because they are classic examples of their type, in a fine state of preservation, and, in addition, they are well published. They come to us from the well-known Pitt- Rivers Collection in Dorset, England.
[ Samuel Egger, Vienna (sold 1891)]; [his sale, Sotheby's, London(June 25, 1891)]; D.F. Kennard, Linton, Maidstone, England (sold 1895); his sale, Sotheby's, London(March 12, 1895, lot 19); Lt. General Augustus Pitt Rivers (aka Lane Fox), Farnham, Dorset, England; [ K. J. Hewett Ltd., London]; [ P. & D. Colnaghi & Co., London]; [ Artemis Fine Arts Limited, London]; [ Ward & Company Works of Art (American), New York (sold 1987)]
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Mirror of the Medieval World," March 9–June 1, 1999.
Martin, Alastair Bradley, and William D. Wixom. "Curatorial Reports and Departmental Accessions." Annual Report of the Trustees of the Metropolitan Museum of Art 117 (July 1, 1986–June 30, 1987). p. 35.
Recent Acquisitions, 1986-1987 (Metropolitan Museum of Art) (1987). pp. 12–13.
Burn, Barbara, ed. Masterpieces of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1993. p. 59.
Brown, Katharine R. Migration Art, A.D. 300-800. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1995. pp. 15, 42–43, fig. 10.
Wixom, William D., ed. Mirror of the Medieval World. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1999. no. 56, p. 45.
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. 290, 358, fig. 6a, 23.15.
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