BUCKLE

Early Anglo-Saxon thick silver object set with a panel of cloisonné garnets with gold cell walls.

Description: Sub-triangular three-dimensional object made from cast silver, with all edges curved (two concave and one convex). When held with the convex edge downwards, the object is curved in cross-section from side to side; the reverse is flatter, but has a C-shaped raised area following the convex edge with a sunken C-shaped centre which is part of the original casting. The effect is that of a horse's hoof.

There is no obvious break, but there is an oval scar on top of the apex which may be a small worn break. The apex is covered on the reverse with a darker material which may be corrosion or which may be solder from a repair.

The front of the object is very worn, but it is still possible to see decoration on the silver consisting of two rows of interlocking apex-to-apex triangles. In some places (particularly on the right when held apex-upwards) the triangles appear to be worn away; in most cases they are obscured because they are filled with niello which has decomposed to a silvery appearance.

In the centre of the front is a panel of cloisonné which is the same shape as the rest of the object (sometimes called 'axe-shaped'). There are four cells all set with garnets, the topmost one arrow-shaped (triangular with a tiny rectangular projection in the centre of the lower edge). The three lower cells are approximately triangular (in the corners) and trapezoidal (in the centre), but the cell walls are again extremely worn and have spread (or have been spread) over the edges of the stones, making their precise shape hard to see. The arrow-shaped garnet and the right-hand corner garnet are cracked and broken, and there is a small chip out of the left-hand garnet.

Under the microscope, where the stones are not cracked it is possible to see foils beneath the stones with at least part of the foil carrying impressions, and it is possible to see that their upper surface has been cut smoothly on the curve.

Dimensions: length 11.7mm, width 12.2mm, thickness 4.1mm, weight 1.9g.

Discussion: The precise function of the original object is hard to assess. The object is the right size and shape to form the end of a sword pommel cap, but the lack of broken edges rules this out. The resemblance to a horse's hoof may be fortuitous, but the horse undoubtedly had a role in Anglo-Saxon art and thought, and there are horse hoof-print stamps known from metalwork and pottery.

Noel Adams has seen an image of this object, and has suggested that it may be a 'tongue-shield' from an elaborate Anglo-Saxon buckle. These tend to be flatter and larger, but the shape, broken end and materials are all paralleled on several high-status gold and silver buckles (e.g. Speake 1980, pls. 6 and 7). If it is a tongue-shield, it will have entirely lost a loop on the reverse, or at least a curled-under projection, by which it was attached to the bar of the buckle frame. As it is in very worn condition, the complete loss of such a loop is not impossible.

Date: The decorative techniques are well known from early Anglo-Saxon objects. Silver decorated with interlocking nielloed triangles has a long currency throughout the sixth and seventh centuries; compare a 6th-century buckle from Faversham, now in the British Museum (acc. no. OA.6748) and the helmet cheekpieces from the Staffordshire Hoard, for example). Cloisonné garnets with foil backings are known in small numbers from the late sixth century but become more popular in the seventh. Arrow-shaped garnets are found on the Wilton cross, which contains a coin minted between 613 and 630. A date of c. 580-c. 650 is probably therefore appropriate.