The Burton Lazars mount LEIC-62EC04
This mercury-gilded silver mount from Burton Lazars, Melton, is a bit of a mystery. It has four openwork ‘knot- like’ interlace panels formed of snake like animals which have heads with beady eyes, which can be seen when viewed from above.
It has no obvious parallels but similar beasts are seen on 9th century metalwork and the creatures seen here seem to have more affinities with manuscript ornamentations, as for instance in the Book of Kells, (see B Meehan, The Book of Kells, London, 1994, figs. 37 and 54). Dr Anna Gannon of the British Museum thought that ‘the interlace is more related to Irish work in its fluidity, rather than to the more disciplined Anglo-Saxon or Viking varieties’.
Given that it has parallels with manuscripts and may be of Irish craftsmanship, it has been suggested the object is a book mount. As it was found just north of the leper hospital at Burton, the HQ of the Holy Order of St Lazarus, it may have belonged to an antique book in their possession? Or it may indicate the site of an earlier high status settlement now lost to us.
This object is one of a growing number of unusual Early Medieval objects from the Melton area that have come through the Treasure system in the last two decades.
Found in 2003, this object can be seen at Melton Carnegie Museum
