BROOCH

A corroded and heavily worn fragment of a Roman enamelled plate brooch of probable second century date. The fragment is extensively worn and the exterior circumference of this artefact no longer remains. It is decorated on the upper surface with circumferential bands utilising both the copper-alloy body and coloured enamels: the outer band is formed of copper-alloy, with the next band a green enamel, another band of copper-alloy, then a wider band of blue enamel dotted with copper-alloy pellets and the final stage of visible decoration is a large band of copper-alloy. This decoration appears to have similarities to a flat, plain-edged brooch in Hattatt (2007: 344, fig. 203 ref. 1564A), but could also fit with a moulded disc brooch with exterior lugs illustrated in Hattatt (1989:124, fig. 59 ref. 545 or 1056), as the extensive wear on the fragment might have reduced the moulded detail to a flattened surface and the outer circumference does not survive. The underside of the brooch fragment is flat, but traces of now corroded lug remain. The overall colour of the copper-alloy body is a red-brown, but the blue and green coloured enamels are still vivid.