PENDANT

Description: Small gold pendant in the shape of a three-dimensional animal head, decorated with granules and filigree, with one garnet inlay surviving, and a small suspension loop set at the back of the head.

The base of the suspension loop is surrounded by a border of beaded wire (c. 0.7mm in diameter) which is flanked by an inner and an outer border of unbeaded wire (c. 0.4mm in diameter). The outer unbeaded wire is often hidden by other elements of the decoration, but both inner wires have gaps between their ends, and the ends are clearly cut, with wedge-shaped ends. The suspension loop is of a subtly different colour of gold. It has a stem attaching it to the rest of the pendant; this is hidden by a strip of gold wrapped around it, which has then had a tiny rivet put through from top to bottom; a separate D-shaped perforated lug emerges from this strip. The perforation is c. 1.1mm in diameter and is unworn. The surface of the gold of both the perforated lug and the stem of the loop is uneven.

The animal head is made from gold sheet and appears hollow. The inside of the upper jaw is made from a strip of sheet which is bent round to become the lower jaw. The rest of the head is made from another piece of sheet bent in a C-shape and soldered on to the jaws; this upper piece of sheet has a distinctly wrinkled surface and there are gaps in places between the two pieces of sheet.

Both of the open jaws have outward-rolled ends. The upper jaw is larger and is rolled up to form a hollow transverse tube; the lower jaw is much smaller, and both ends of its hollow tube are filled with a single large gold granule. The jaws are edged with a border of very fine beaded wire (c. 0.3mm in diameter) which wraps around the granule on either side of the lower jaw to give the effect of a collar of beaded wire. The beads on this wire are quite uneven. The mouth is deep that its beaded-wire edge touches the outer unbeaded collar of the suspension loop.

Between the open jaws are seven granules of c. 0.8-1.0mm in diameter, one at the front and three widely spaced along either side of the mouth.

On the underside of the lower rolled-under jaw is a spiral of beaded wire, which after one-and-a-half turns is then unbeaded and extends towards the open mouth, on one side of the granule, forming (with the beaded spiral) half of a reversed S-shape. On the underside of this jaw is a reversed S-shape in unbeaded wire.

There is an eye on each side of the head. Both eyes are formed from short tubes of sheet gold attached to the base sheet that forms the head. The left eye is empty (and sprung in places away from the base sheet) but the right eye has a thin flat stone (now cracked across) surviving at its base, and burred-over edges at the top of the tube. The stone was too deeply sunk in its socket for analysis, but from visual inspection it appeared to be garnet.

Between the eyes, running the full length of the object from the collar around the suspension loop to the start of the rolled-up upper jaw, is a central length of very fine beaded wire. From this two pairs of curved very fine beaded wires spring, decorating the nose; the back of the curves point towards the end of the nose. There is a group of three slightly smaller granules (0.6-0.7mm in diameter) on either side of the nose, between the corner of the rolled-up end and the first of the beaded-wire curves.

Above the eyes, on the top of the head, is a pair of spirals of very fine beaded wire, c. 0.5mm in diameter. The left-hand one has a granule (0.7mm in diameter) at its centre, and the right-hand one has a similar granule which is now squashed and blurred. These spirals continue, to form a C shape of beaded wire with the other end wrapped around the base of the eye tubes to form a beaded collar effect. Between the eyes are two groups of three granules, one group slightly higher on the head than the other; the long line of beaded wire runs between them. There is another similar group of three granules in the centre of each of the C shapes; and another group outside each of the C shapes, between it and the curve of the back of the mouth. A single granule is set on either side of the end of the longitudinal beaded wire where it meets the borders around the suspension loop.

There is a dark material in some crevices which does not immediately appear to be soil.

Dimensions: Length 18.35mm, width 7.5mm, thickness 6.95mm, weight 1.91g.

Analysis: Non-destructive X-ray fluorescence analysis of the surface of the main body of the pendant indicated a surface composition of approximately 79-82% gold and 13-15 % silver, the rest being copper. Similar analysis of the suspension loop indicated a surface composition of approximately 83-86% gold and 12-14% silver, the rest being copper. (British Museum Department of Conservation and Scientific Research, File No. 7565 23, 12 March 2014.)

Discussion: This object is similar in its style and construction to YORYM-3F57C3, a socketed pendant, but in detail it is very unusual. In particular, the construction of the suspension loop is unprecedented in an Anglo-Saxon context.

Date: The main body of the pendant appears to be an unusual variant of forms in use in the 9th century AD and the analysis results are not inconsistent with this. The suspension loop is however extremely unusual.