Gold fragment of a bracelet with animal-head clasp
The elaborately worked, delicate fragment consists of two movable parts connected to each other, whose curvature and flattening on the underside indicate that it belonged to a bracelet or possibly a necklace.
The front part is modelled three-dimensionally in the form of an animal head (a snake or a dragon-like mythical creature). The broad, short head has a raised, ridge-like area above the eyes, while the bridge of the nose is worked as a projecting ridge. The blunt mouth ends in two raised ridges. The tongue hanging from the open mouth is bent upwards to form a hook clasp.
The protruding round eyes are executed in relief. A sleeve-like body element is inserted into the animal’s neck, which is decorated with beaded wire, and is attached to it by a rivet allowing movement. The following missing link was also attached with a rivet, which survives intact: it was therefore perhaps made more delicately or from a less durable material that did not leave abrasion marks at the rivet.
Because of the form of the clasp, the missing links were certainly connected to one another in a movable manner, perhaps by means of a hinge in the central section or as a woven chain.
Bracelets with animal-head terminals become relatively common from approximately the middle of the 4th century AD onwards, but they are usually made in a single piece and have more strongly stylised animal heads at the (open) ends.
No exact parallel for our fragment has so far been found. Jewellery of this type occurs in many variants during the Early Migration Period. Very similar heads with inlaid eyes are shown by contemporary North Pontic–East Germanic bracelets found at Kerch (Crimea, northern Black Sea region).
The bracelets from the grave of the Princess of Untersiebenbrunn have stylised snake-head terminals with blunt mouths and garnets as eyes. From the Cluj-Someșeni treasure (Transylvania), parts of woven chains with animal-head clasps and fragments of bracelets with animal-head terminals are preserved; these are attributed to an East Germanic princess.
Technique and Preservation
The surviving parts are made from thin gold sheet, which was hammered and soldered. On the front section, the underside was separately cut out and soldered on; the head was hammered and decorated with engraving (chasing/ciselure).
The eye settings consist of soldered sheet-metal strips holding the semi-circular red stones (almandines or garnets). The tongue consists of a piece of bent wire, shaped into a clasp hook and soldered inside the mouth on the underside.
The body part consists of a rolled gold sheet soldered along its seam and is attached movably to the snake’s neck by a rivet. At its lower end is another rivet made from a thin twisted sheet-metal strip, which probably served as the connection to the next link.
The base of the neck and the open ends of the neck and body sections are decorated with soldered beaded-wire rings.
The fragment is damaged by scratch marks, small cracks, and deformations (especially of the movable body section), and shows traces of wear on the inner side of the hook. The beaded wire at the base of the head shows an old restoration (gluing). The remaining links of the bracelet and the counterpart of the clasp are lost.
Quantity
1
Weight
4.2 g
Length
4.1 cm
Material
Gold
Hoard
