MOUNT

An incomplete cast copper-alloy, gold leaf and garnet Early Anglo-Saxon zoomorphic shield mount of Dickinson and Harke's group C (figural appliques usually of gilt bronze in the shape of fish or other animals), dating c. 500-600 AD. In plan the mount would probably have taken the form of a fish or aquatic creature: the 'head' end is broken away, but the rest of the object is preserved intact. The main body of the object is oval in plan, with a raised elongated oval section at its midpoint (thus creating a 'tiered' efect) containing three recessed cells that appear to retain the residual remains of garnet inlays. At the back edge of the object is a waisted 'knop-like' section not unlike those present on the headplates of cruciform type brooches, demonstrating two sets of paired transverse collars before abruptly thinning and fanning out slightly, after which the rear or 'tail' portion of the object is broken away in old damage. The latter section is coincident with a broken circular-sectioned fixing lug on the rear of the object, while a small circular aperture visible on the back of the mount appears to coincide with the middle recessed cell sited at the midpoint of the object. Apart from these two features, the reverse face of the object is plain and featureless. The upper surface of the mount is covered with a thick coating of gold leaf, most of which survives intact. Preserved in good conditiuon with a dark green patina in places erupting through the coating, it survives to a length of 43.31mm, 24.12mm in width at its widest point, and 4.95mm thick at its midpoint (where the tiered section projects). It weighs 13.98g.

No exact parallel for this mount could be found, though the similarities between it and the fish-shaped examples illustrated by Dickinson and Harke are very evident (1992, p. 28). It is argued that some of these mounts-particularly the smaller examples, could equally constitute belt fittings (Dickinson and Harke 1992, p. 29). No identical parallel could be immediately found in a published work, but a similar object has been recorded on the PAS database-LVPL-F44B72.