Sir John Evans's Collections of Artefacts
Anglo-Saxon Bracteate
Country of Origin: Britain
Description: Seventh-century pendant made of sheet gold and is decorated with a central face-mask surrounded by interlacing animals.
Dimensions: 4cm diameter
Object Period: Anglo-Saxon
Provenance: Faversham, Kent
Museum Accession No.: AN1909.194
Aquisition History: Presented to the Ashmolean by Sir Arthur Evans in 1909.
Other Information: Bracteates are pendants decorated with designs derived from Roman Imperial and Anglo-Saxon coinage. There are a number of artefacts from the early Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Faversham in Kent in the Evans Collection, including glass and amethyst beads (AN1909.144, AN1909.155 & AN1909.162), a jewelled pendant (AN1909.207) and a jewelled disc brooch (AN1909.196) (These objects can be viewed on this website).
Further References / Links:
N. Âberg, The Anglo-Saxons in England (London,1926) fig. 250.
P.D.C. Brown and F. Schweizer, 'X-Ray flourescent analysis of Anglo Saxon jewellery', Achaeometry 15 (1973), p. 178, pl. AM11.
V.I. Evison, Dover: the Buckland Anglo-Saxon Cemetery, HBMC England, Archaeological Report 3, (London,1987) p. 54
A. MacGregor and E. Bolick, Ashmolean Museum: Summary Catalogue of the Anglo-Saxon Collections (Non- Ferrous Metals) (Oxford, 1993) BAR British Series 230, no 23.2.
G. Speake, Anglo-Saxon Animal Art and its Germanic Background (Oxford, 1980) p. 70, fig. 13s, pl. 13, 1.
