SCABBARD

Pyramidal fittings were functional and were attached to the suspension straps of a sword or seax scabbard where they tightened the scabbard suspension loop. They are generally made in either copper-alloy or silver and over one hundred examples have been recorded (W. Menghin, 'Das Schwert im Frühen Mittelalter', Nürnberg 1983, 363-65). Their distribution on the Continent is concentrated along the Rhine and in the eastern Frankish territories between the Rhine and the Danube (op.cit. Karte 22). Anglo-Saxon pyramidal mounts are distributed predominantly in southern and eastern England and, like their continental counterparts, they are generally made of silver or copper-alloy. Within the Anglo-Saxon corpus is a small, but rapidly growing, group of high-status pyramidal mounts made of gold. These are decorated either with beaded filigree wire and cabochon or plate garnets (e.g. the mounts from Bury St Edmunds and Newark, Treasure Annual Report 2000, no. 59; ibid. 1998-1999, no. 62) or with garnet cloisonné cell-work (Bembridge, Isle of Wight, 2002 T213). They are all individually made and the 'near Dorchester' mount is an exceptional addition to the group. The cell combinations and the use of all-over cloisonné garnet inlay link it to high status Kentish jewellery as well as some of the gold and garnet jewellery from Sutton Hoo mound 1, although this is technically superior. The motif of a repeating stepped cell within a semi-circular frame occurs on plated disc brooches from e.g. Faversham, Kent and grave 42, Gilton, Kent (R. Avent, 'Anglo-Saxon Disc and Composite Brooches', BAR 11, ii, Oxford 1975, cat. nos.158, 159, 179, pls. 55 and 68, pp. 44-5, 53) and in more ornate form on other high status early seventh century finds, e.g. the Forest Gate jewel (Rupert Bruce-Mitford, 'Aspects of Anglo-Saxon Archaeology', London 1974, pl. 85c and d), as well as finds from Sutton Hoo (Angela Care Evans, 'The Sutton Hoo Ship Burial', 2000, pl. viii, fig. 26). It also occurs as a dominant motif on the composite brooch from grave 205, Kingston Down, Kent (Leslie Webster and Janet Backhouse, 'The Making of England, Anglo-Saxon Art and Culture, 600-900', London, 1991, cat. no. 32a). The use of opaque blue glass is also found on high status Anglo-Saxon and Continental metalwork, for example from Sutton Hoo Mound 1 - on the shoulder clasps and the pyramidal mounts - and from Kentish contexts, particularly the Kingston brooch, which shares the use of pale blue glass in single stepped cells. The quality of metalworking, together with the repertoire of cell shapes and the use of pale blue glass in single stepped cells, appear to link it to the workshop that produced the Kingston brooch in the early seventh century. (Angela Care Evans, Curator, Anglo-Saxon Collections, Department of Prehistory and Europe, The British Museum, July 2003).