STRAP FITTING

Incomplete enamelled copper alloy Roman zoomorphic strap fitting of Boucher's (2008) Type C2 dating to the period c. AD 80 - 250. In the form of a boar facing right. The head exhibits features moulded in relief with one ear projecting slightly from the top of the head. The eye is recessed and inlaid with black enamel. The mouth is depicted by a transverse groove just below the snout with a moulded tusk projecting from the edge. A series of fine grooves across the head indicate the texture of bristles. The head is divided from the body by a line of punched annulets. The body exhibits a recessed cell filled with blue champlevé enamel and three spots of white enamel; one at the shoulder, one at the top of the foreleg and one, larger spot on the flank. This last spot exhibits a central recess with traces of a red substance within. The finder notes that it originally had a dark-coloured enamel filling when discovered, but this dropped out and was lost in the soil. In the centre of the enamelled field is a circular aperture surrounded by a reserve border. This would have originally held a loop for a pivoting copper alloy ring. Both of the legs terminate in cloven trotters. Two projecting stubs at the rear of the animal indicates the position of the missing tail.

On the reverse of the fitting are two integrally cast T-shaped attachment rivets, one of which is incomplete due to old damage.

The boar is a common figure in zoomorphic enamelled brooches, with many examples recorded on the PAS database including: WILT-5D5B17 & SUSS-DB2C32, however, the attachment rivets at the back clearly indicate that this example is is not intended for use as a brooch.

In terms of the attachment rivets, this artefact is related to similar enamelled strap fittings, most commonly circular in form and a number of which have been recorded on the PAS database including: SUR-67CFC7, WILT-B03D73, BH-F9B471 & ESS-7E7BB6. It has been noted that, as with the current example, these also exhibit characteristics in common with enamelled disc and plate brooches of the same period, indicating that similar motifs were employed across a range of dress accessories, of which brooches are the most common.

Length (head to front foot): 18mm, width (nose to tail): 32.2mm, thickness (including rivets): 8.4mm, thickness (excluding rivets): 3.3mm, weight: 5.9g.

See: Boucher, T, 2008, p. 27, no. 35.