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20.05.2021

Brooch in Form of a Bird of Prey

The elegant bird depicted on this brooch features its head and right leg in a leftward profile, while its rounded body and fluttering tail face forward. The elongated right wing curves behind the tail. The neck, wings, and tail edges, as well as the upper part of the leg, are adorned with a decorative element called a pseudobuspin. Nine stamped or embossed crayfish decorate the tail. The bird's position, with its head supported by a raised foot, suggests that it is depicted in a sleeping or resting posture.

This brooch is believed to have originated from a Scandinavian collection before it was eventually sold in London. Its form is quite similar to saddle mounts from Wallstenarum (now in the Statens Historiska Museet, Stockholm) in the Vendel style (550-800), which is named after objects excavated at a royal site in Sweden. It also shares similarities with shield mounts from the Sutton Hoo ship burial, now housed in the British Museum. While the stamped decoration featuring crayfish is unique to the best of the author's knowledge, stamped geometric designs can be found on the tails of birds of prey depicted on openwork discs from Germany and on a fibula or mount from Canterbury, now in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Nevertheless, the prominent eye with high relief, the sharply curved, cap-like eyebrow, and the beak characteristic of the bird on this brooch align with Wendelian features, suggesting a potential attribution to Scandinavia and a dating to around 600 AD.

Brooch in Form of a Bird of Prey

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