VESSEL

A fragment of enamelled copper-alloy hook-mount from a hanging bowl. This fragment comprises the lower section only, and represents around 30% of the whole object. The surviving piece measures 37mm high by 39mm wide. The complete fitting would have been pear-shaped, culminating in a hook which would have fitted over the rim of the bowl and would have retained a suspension ring. The body of the fragment has a raised decoration of spirals, with a somewhat asymmetrical rendition adapted to fit into an oval rather than circular field. The result has lent a somewhat ornithomorphic appearance to two of the motifs, which may have been intentional given the overall shape of the complete object. The surface of the reserved design has traces of tinning or silvering evident, the field with the remains of a creamy-yellow enamel. It is difficult to assess how near this is to the original hue, but yellow would be plausible in an overall polychromatic scheme of things.

The Good Easter hook-escutcheon has now been donated by the finder and landowner to the Chelmsford Museum. The finder has researched the artefact and his findings follow:

Early medieval hanging bowls are an enigmatic class of object, the majority of known examples coming from England, with the remainder from Scotland, Ireland and northern Europe. A typical hanging bowl has a diameter of between 250 to 350mm, with a re-entrant in the base forming a raised platform inside. Most have three suspension loops around the rim mounted on escutcheons, and may have additional decorative appliqués on the exterior, and sometimes on the base, both internal and external. One of the best known, from the Sutton-Hoo ship burial first excavated in 1939, also has an enamelled model of a fish mounted on a pedestal set into the interior. The most significant aspect of this type of hanging bowl is that the applied decoration is in the native 'celtic' style prevalent in Ireland and northern Britain during the early medieval period, rather than reflecting the artistic traditions of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. Much speculation has ensued concerning the use to which they were put, with no conclusive result. Their presence in richly-furnished graves implies that they enjoyed a high status, and the predominance of English finds spots suggests that they were probably acquired peaceably rather than as loot - were this not the case one would expect more findspots to be within the 'celtic fringe.' The figures published by Rupert Bruce-Mitford (Bruce-Mitford R, 2005) are largely based on pre-metal detector finds, so the statistics are not skewed by circumstances of discovery method and reporting bias as with some other types of find. Bruce-Mitford suggests that some English bowls may have been made locally, but in the native style not Saxon, which raises interesting questions as to how they were regarded and used. As far as dating goes, the majority of those with enamelled mounts would seem to have been made during the 6th and 7th centuries AD. Parallels to this example is particularly interesting, as only one example out of nearly 200 listed by Bruce-Mitford comes close. The majority of enamelled hook-escutcheons are round, but one found at Benniworth in Lincolnshire in 1933 differs only in minor stylistic details from the Good Easter specimen. Other 'ornithomorphic' examples, including those on a complete bowl from Lincoln, avoid the problem of fitting triskele-type motifs into sub-circular fields. The Benniworth specimen has been dated to c650-700 AD, which would place the Good Easter find within the same date range as the early medieval coinage from the site. Ref: Bruce-Mitford, R. 2005. A Corpus of Late Celtic Hanging-Bowls. Oxford.