Accession No

D 1950.11


Description

Copper alloy hanging bowl with hammered down rim, short concave neck, globular body and omphalos base. A copper alloy band decorated with concentric circles and grooved lines sits just above the shoulder; a similar band runs around the base. Three decorative enamelled bands run from the base ring to the shoulder ring. Equidistant around the rim are three openwork escutcheons with traces of enamel on the geometric decoration; the perimeter of each is wrapped in a band of deeply grooved copper alloy. A moulded zoomorphic hook projects from each escutcheon which holds an undecorated copper alloy ring. In the centre of each of the three panels is an applied ornament in the form of a boar or pig decorated with enamel and concentric circles. The bowl has been heavily reconstructed; one escutcheon, one ring and more than 100 fragments are detached but present.


Place

Europe; British Isles; England; Cambridgeshire; Hildersham


Period

Anglo Saxon 500-600 AD


Source

Binney, C. [depositor]; Britt-Compton, D. C. [excavator]


Department

Arch


Reference Numbers

D 1950.11


Cultural Affliation


Material

Metal; Copper alloy; ?Bronze


Local Term


Measurements


Events

Loan (Exhibition)
Sutton Hoo Visitor Centre, Tranmer House, Sutton Hoo, Woodbridge,Suffolk IP12 3DJ temporary exhibition at the Sutton Hoo visitor centre, Suffolk for summer 2005
Event Date
Author: maa


Context (References)
Longley, C. (1975). The Anglo-Saxon Connection. BAR 22: Oxford. p. 16. fig. 10a
Event Date
Author: Imogen Gunn


Context (References)
Kilbride-Jones, H. (1908). 'Hanging Bowls'. Celtic Craftsmanship in Bronze London. pp. 237-8. p. 239. figs. 77.4, 78.4
Event Date 1908
Author: Imogen Gunn


Context (Field collection)
Found in a gravel pit and collected by Rev. D.C. Britt-Compton in 1944
Event Date 1944
Author: Eleanor Wilkinson


Context (Found together / assemblage)
Found with the skeleton of a man with shield boss, etc.
Event Date 1944
Author: Eleanor Wilkinson


Context (Field collection)
Catalogue card for D 1950.11(-12): 'This bowl was found during the war (c.1944) by the Revd. D.C. Britt-Compton in a gravel pit. It had been exposed by army activity (slinging mills bombs at the face of the pit) and accompanied the skeleton of a man with shield boss etc. of the pagan Saxon period.'
Event Date 1944
Author: maa


Description (Physical description)
Part of a bronze hanging bowl with hammered down rim, short concave neck, globular body and omphalos base with hook ends. A plain, heavy cast bronze ring rests in each hook. A vertically placed applied bronze enamelled strip joins the base ring with the escutcheons. Applied enamel bands encircle the kick of the base both inside and outside. The inner ring is incomplete. There are 3 escutcheons of open work palmette design (cf Baginton) with enamel inlay, different in each case. The hook ends are in the form of animal heads grooved under their chins to rest on the rim (these have been not quite correctly mounted). The escutcheons and inner and outer base prints are surrounded by crinkly bronze circlets. A band of enamelled bronze 7 mm wide encircles the shoulder and is ornamented with ring and dot ornament between panels of vertical groovings and in 1 part with ring and dot linked to give the impression of running spirals. Part of this applied band is missing. The escutcheons are 14 mm broad and are also ornamented with ring and dot. The enamel used all seems to have been red, but is very faded. Both the inner and outside rings are decorated with ring and dot and running spirals. The inner print design is composed of a series of s scrolls combined with a central triquetion enamel being freely used in the voids created by the tendril like design. The base print has two concentric circles of linked S scrolls giving the impression of a running scroll. Red enamel is again used. On the plain body of the bowl between each vertical strip (3) is a small, applied, stylised animal with a long snout and tail, the body being ornamented with ring and dot. These are probably pigs (cf. deer on the Lullingstone bowl).
Found with the skeleton of a man with shield boss, etc
Event Date 1950
Author: maa


Context (References)
Lethbridge, T.C. (1952). 'Bronze bowl of the Dark Ages from Hildersham, Cambridgeshire'. Proceedings of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society. vol 45. pp. 44-47.
Event Date 1952
Author: Imogen Gunn


Context (References)
Lethbridge, T.C. (1956). 'The Anglo-Saxon settlement in eastern England: a reassessment'. D. B. Harden (ed.) Dark Age Britain: Studies presented to E T Leeds London. pp. 112-122. p. 115. pl. xiv.b.
Event Date 1956
Author: Imogen Gunn


Context (References)
Haseloff, G. (1958) 'Fragments of a hanging bowl from Bekesbourne, Kent'. Medieval Archaeology. vol 2. pp. 72-103. p. 73 n.6.
Event Date 1958
Author: Imogen Gunn


Context (References)
Fowler, E. (1968). 'Hanging Bowls'. J. Coles & D. Simpson (eds.) Studies in Ancient Europe: Studies presented to Stuart Piggot, Leicester. pp. 287-309. p. 290, 294, 302.
Event Date 1968
Author: Imogen Gunn


Context (References)
Vierck, H. (1970). 'Cortina Tripodis'. Fruhmittelalterliche Studien. vol 4. pp. 8-52. p. 46.
Event Date 1970
Author: Imogen Gunn


Context (References)
Brenan, J. (1991). Hanging Bowls and their Contexts. BAR British Series 220. Tempvs Reperatvm: Oxford. cat. no. 34
Event Date 1991
Author: Imogen Gunn


Context (References)
Taylor, Alison. (1998). 'South East Cambridgeshire and the Fen Edge'. Archaeology of Cambridgeshire. Vol. 2. p. 38.
Event Date 1998
Author: Eleanor Wilkinson


Context (References)
Bruce-Mitford R. & Raven S. (2005). The Corpus of Late Celtic Hanging-Bowls with an account of the bowls found in Scandinavia. Oxford University Press: Oxford. Corpus no. 13 & text refs.
Event Date 2005
Author: Imogen Gunn


Context (Display)
Exhibited in Sutton Hoo Visitor Centre, March to October 2005.
Event Date 2005
Author: Imogen Gunn


Context (References)
Youngs, S. (2009). 'Anglo-Saxon, Irish and British relations: hanging-bowls reconsidered'. J. Graham-Campbell and M. Ryan (eds.) Anglo-Saxon/Irish Relations before the Vikings. Proceedings of the British Academy vol 157. p. 205-230, 211-212.
Event Date 2009
Author: Imogen Gunn


Context (References)
Goldberg, M. 2015. 'Out of a Roman World, c. AD 250-650'. J. Farley and F. Hunter (eds.) Celts: Art and Identity. British Museum. Fig. 164 (below).
Event Date 2015
Author: Imogen Gunn


Context (Analysis)
Martin Goldberg (see Bib) gives a date of the bowl mount (and, by extension, the bowl itself) as AD 500-600. The Period field has been updated accordingly.
Event Date 2015
Author: Imogen Gunn


Description (Physical description)
Copper alloy hanging bowl with hammered down rim, short concave neck, globular body and omphalos base. A copper alloy band decorated with concentric circles and grooved lines sits just above the shoulder; a similar band runs around the base. Three decorative enamelled bands run from the base ring to the shoulder ring. Equidistant around the rim are three openwork escutcheons with traces of enamel on the geometric decoration; the perimeter of each is wrapped in a band of deeply grooved copper alloy. A moulded zoomorphic hook projects from each escutcheon which holds an undecorated copper alloy ring. In the centre of each of the three panels is an applied ornament in the form of a boar or pig decorated with enamel and concentric circles. The bowl has been heavily reconstructed; one escutcheon, one ring and more than 100 fragments are detached but present.
Event Date 19/4/2021
Author: Lily Stancliffe


FM:14797

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