Exceptional Merovingian/Saxon period gold and garnet cloisonné bezel

Code: 11830

This is an exceptional Merovingian or Anglo-Saxon period gold garnet cloisonné bezel, dating to the 6th - 7th century AD. It is decorated with a beaded wire-rim with the edges rubbed over to form a seamless join. The main cruciform design is intact with five hand-cut cloisonné garnets held together with gold strips. It almost certainly formed the bezel of a finger-ring. Examples include much of the cloisonné work from Sutton Hoo Mound 1, notably the purse lid, which included several unusually shaped cloisonné plaques. See also NLM-1A8B56 from East Riding of Yorkshire for further discussion of this type of jewellery.

OBJECT: Finger Ring Bezel?

CULTURE: Anglo-Saxon / Merovingian

DATE: c. 6th - 7th century A.D.

MATERIAL: Gold & Garnets 

SIZE: 14.90mm x 14.86mm x 3.81mm 

WEIGHT: 5.32 grams

PROVENANCE: From a European private collection, Germany. (this is not a British Treasure find!)