Disk brooch

Anglo-Saxon

The Potteries Museum and Art Gallery

5th Century

Unique gold disc brooch featuring an animal ornament in high relief. It consists of a base-plate of circular gold sheet with a three-dimensional figures of a crouching feline, being 'bitten' by a pair of fanged-jaw animal heads. Incised decoration on the creatures is used to represent eyes, snouts, mouths and fur. Filigree gold wire is used around the necks of the animal heads and on the brooch border. It is likely to have been imported to Staffordshire from Scandinavia or Germany. Brooches of this kind formed part of female costume in the early Anglo-Saxon period.

• Medium: gold
• Dimensions: diameter: 1.9cm
• Art Fund Grant: £2125 ( Total: £8,500)
• ArtFunded in: 2006
• Vendor: Department for Culture, Media and Sport

Provenance

Discovered by a metal detectorist in Lichfield District, Staffordshire, and declared Treasure in 2005.

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