HARNESS MOUNT

Incomplete gilded and silvered copper-alloy mount, probably from horse harness, dating to the early Anglo-Saxon period.

It is a low triangle in cross-section. One end of the object has a worn and incomplete terminal, now rounded, with fragment of silver sheet attached, probably with solder. The mount then expands downwards into a lozenge shape before flaring outwards in a sub-triangular or trapezoidal terminal,also now very worn and incomplete. The rounded terminal contains one small separate copper-alloy rivet at the top, which can be seen on both faces of the object.

The lozengiform central part is decorated with small punched annulets along the edge which appear to have formed a border, but are now missing where the central angles are worn away. These are joined by a V shape of similar punchmarks pointing inwards at each end. Within the V is a triangular punched decoration with transverse lines across each angle of the triangle, in the centre of which is a dot. This is a punchmark particularly characteristic of the early Anglo-Saxon period.

Running down the centre of the lozenge are two rows of outward-facing semi-circles, each one made up of several triangular punchmarks. The punched decoration all retains gilding, and as patches of gilding can be seen between the decorations also, it probably originally covered all but the silvered areas of the object apart from the flared sub-triangular terminal, which has no trace of decoration. The reverse is also undecorated. The object has been bent in the centre and straightened out again, causing stress to the metal. It has a dark green patina.

A similar example on the database is ESS-D57A57; also see NLM6089 and WMID-AA7268. These belong to a group of long narrow lozenge-shaped mounts with rectangular or trapezoidal ends, some of which have silver sheets soldered on.The combination of gilding and silvering is known as the Bichrome Style, and was in use from c. 530 to c. 570 AD. Horse-harness mounts have a wider distribution than most items of early Anglo-Saxon metalwork, including Wales and Scotland, perhaps reflecting the use of horses for travel.