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Medieval Art
All artworks
Period
Insular
Date
early 600s
Collection
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Object no.
466157

Disk Brooch

Unknown Anglo-Saxon goldsmith, Kent, early 600s

Round gold brooch set with red garnets and glass in cell-work, with filigree interlace between the settings

The Metropolitan Museum of Art · Purchase, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, 1987 · Public domain

The record

Maker
Unknown Anglo-Saxon goldsmith, Kent
Date
early 600s
Medium
Gold with garnets, glass, and niello
Dimensions
Diam. 4.7 cm; depth 1.1 cm
Period
Insular

Why it matters

Kent was a centre of Anglo-Saxon jewellery production in the early seventh century, and this small disc brooch combines the region’s favoured materials: gold cell-work set with polished garnets and glass, with filigree interlace between them. Objects of this quality were worn in life and often buried with their owners. The brooch belongs to the same world as the Sutton Hoo finds, a generation or so before the earliest surviving Insular gospel books.

The Met collection record