This group of objects was found in the grave of a Langobardic horseman, who was buried in his warrior dress, with weapons, shield, helmet, and the fittings for his horse. What remains are the many gold pieces that would have ornamented his clothing and equipment, and they attest to the great wealth of the Langobardic aristocracy within a generation of settling in Italy.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Gold Belt Buckle and Gold Strap End
Date:ca. 600
Culture:Langobardic
Medium:Gold
Dimensions:Overall: 2 5/16 x 1 x 9/16 in. (5.9 x 2.5 x 1.5 cm)
Classification:Metalwork-Gold
Credit Line:Purchase, 1895
Accession Number:95.15.99
Found in Castel Trosino, central Italy.; Samuel T. Baxter, Florence (from at least 1876-1895)
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. "Romans and Barbarians," December 17, 1976–February 27, 1977.
Monastero di Santa Giulia. "Il futuro dei longobardi: l'Italia e la costruzione dell'Europa di Carlo Magno," June 18–November 19, 2000.
Baxter, S.T. "On Some Lombardic Gold Ornaments Found at Chiusi." The Archaeological Journal 33 (1876). p. 107, pl. III, no. 2.
Catalogue of Etruscan jewellery with some Roman and Langobardic ornaments in the collection of S.T. Baxter. Florence: Claudian Press, 1886. no. 170d, p. 17.
Venturi, Adolfo. Storia dell'arte italiana: Volume 2, Dall'arte Barbarica alla Romanica. Milan: Ulrico Hoepli, 1902. p. 73, fig. 61.
Åberg, Nils. Die Goten und Langobarden in Italien. Uppsala: Almqvist & Wiksells Boktryckeri, 1923. p. 116, fig. 222.
Peirce, Hayford, and Royall Tyler. L'art Byzantin. Vol. 2. Paris: Librarie de France, 1934. pp. 139–40, pl. 208h.
Kuhn, Herbert. "Wichtige Langobardische Funde in Amerikanischen Sammlungen." Ipek 12 (1938). p. 178, pl. 59.
Ricketson, Edith B. "Barbarian Jewelry of the Merovingian Period." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., 5, no. 5 (January 1947). p. 142.
Romans & Barbarians. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1976. no. 162, p. 136.
Paroli, Lidia, ed. La necropoli altomedievale di Castel Trosino: Bizantini e Longobardi nelle Marche. Ascoli Piceno: Museo Archeologico Statale, 1995. pp. 18–19, ill. p. 18.
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. 146, 339, fig. 13.12.
Paolucci, Giulio. "Il 'Longobardo d'oro' dell'Arcisa: un ritrovamento eccezionale e un giallo archeologico." In Goti e Longobardi a Chiusi, edited by Carla Falluomini. Chiusi: Edizioni Luì, 2009. pp. 169–97, fig. 1, 20.
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