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Belt Buckle

about 600
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 301
At the center of this belt buckle is a small face set within a cross. Comparable examples, some with inscriptions, suggest that the image evokes Christ in an abstracted, emblematic form, reflecting the integration of Christian symbols into Frankish metalwork.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Belt Buckle
  • Date: about 600
  • Geography: Made in Northern France
  • Culture: Frankish
  • Medium: Copper alloy, "tinned" surface
  • Dimensions: Overall: 2 3/8 x 3 3/4 x 11/16 in. (6 x 9.6 x 1.8 cm)
  • Classification: Metalwork-Copper alloy
  • Credit Line: Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917
  • Object Number: 17.191.223
  • Curatorial Department: Medieval Art and The Cloisters

More Artwork

More Artwork
Finger Ring with Inscription, electrum (?) /gold, Frankish
Finger Ring with Inscription
Frankish
late 6th–early 7th century
Belt Buckle, Copper alloy, tinned surface, Frankish
Belt Buckle
Frankish
mid-500s
Plate with the Battle of David and Goliath, Silver, Byzantine
Plate with the Battle of David and Goliath
Byzantine
629–30
Shell Cross, Shell, Byzantine
Shell Cross
Byzantine
300–700
Belt Buckle, Iron inlaid with silver, iron rivets with heads of copper alloy, Frankish
Belt Buckle
Frankish
late 6th–7th century

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