{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O112685"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O112685/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2008BU7170/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2008BU7170/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2008BU7170","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2008BU7240","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2008BU7205","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O112685/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O112685","accessionNumber":"4510-1858","objectType":"Belt buckle","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"A splendid buckle like this would have been a costly item that not everyone could have afforded. It may originally have formed part of a larger set of adornments, with a matching counter plate. The buckle is decorated with fabulous beaked snakes in an interlace pattern, a popular motif on jewellery of the late sixth and early seventh centuries. The large gold buckle from Sutton Hoo, for instance, is also decorated with intertwined snakes and it has been suggested that the interlace represents an attempt to counter negative forces by literally tying them up. Although we don't know where this buckle came from, it may well have been found in a grave, buried with its owner.","physicalDescription":"Belt buckle of iron, damascened with interlaced ornamentation in gold and silver. The buckle plate has five dome-headed rivets and the base of the tongue carries an enlarged tongue-shield.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"iron","id":"AAT11002"},{"text":"silver","id":"AAT11029"},{"text":"brass (alloy)","id":"AAT10946"}],"techniques":[{"text":"inlay (process)","id":"AAT53850"},{"text":"forging (metal forming)","id":"AAT54033"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Forged iron inlaid with silver and possibly brass","categories":[{"text":"Accessories","id":"THES48998"},{"text":"Europeana Fashion Project","id":"THES265804"}],"styles":[{"text":"Merovingian","id":"AAT19512"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"MET","id":"THES48599"},"images":["2008BU7170","2008BU7240","2008BU7205"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"8","id":"THES49714"},"free":"","case":"CA13","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Buckle","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"France","id":"x28849"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":"possibly"}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"600-700","earliest":"0600-01-01","latest":"0700-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"7.4","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"17.9","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Weight","value":"250.8","unit":"g","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"01/11/2019","earliest":"2019-11-01","latest":"2019-11-01"},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"Measured for the Medieval and Renaissance Galleries","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Bought for 2<i>l</i> in 1858","historicalContext":"Buckles such as this were popular in large parts of early medieval north-western Europe. Similar pieces are known from the northern French-Belgian regions inhabited by the Franks to the Alamanic regions of Switzerland and south-western Germany.\r\n\r\nThe intricated animal ornament consists of beaked, snake-like animals which are interlaced in the so-called Style II defined by Edward Salin. Although inlaid iron buckles such as these are very rare in Anglo-Saxon England, the art style was known as well. The large gold buckle from Sutton Hoo, for instance, is also decorated with intertwined snakes and it has been suggested that the interlace represents an attempt to ban negative forces by literally tying them up (Hawkes 1997).\r\n\r\nA splendid buckle like this would have been a costly item that not everyone could have afforded. It may originally have formed part of a larger suite, with a matching counter plate. It dates to the 7th century A.D. or perhaps to the end of the 6th century.\r\n\r\nAlthough we don't know where this buckle came from, it may well have been found in a grave, buried with its owner.","briefDescription":"Merovingian belt buckle with a tongue-shaped plate with silver and brass wire inlay, made in Europe, possibly France, 7th century","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Mossbrugger-Leu, Rudolf, <font -u>Die Schweiz zur Merowingerzeit</font>. Die archäologische Hinterlassenschaft der Romanen, Burgunder und Alamannen. 2 vols (Bern 1971), esp. vol B, plate 42."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Marzinzik, Sonja, <font -u>Early Anglo-Saxon belt buckles (late 5th to early 8th centuries): Their classification and context</font>. BAR British Series 357 (Oxford 2003)."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Trenteseau, Berthie,  <font -u>La damasquinure mérovingienne en Belgique; plaques-boucles et autres accessoires de buffleterie</font>. Dissertationes archaeologicae Gandenses (Brugges 1966)."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Hawkes, Jane, Symbolic lives: the visual evidence. <font -u>The Anglo-Saxons from the Migration Period to the Eighth Century: an Ethnographic perspective</font>. ed. Hines J. Studies in Historical Archaeoethnology 2 (Woodbridge 1997) 311-338."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Hawkes, Sonia Chadwick, Recent finds of inlaid iron buckles and belt-plates from seventh-century Kent. <font -u>Anglo-Saxon Studies in Archaeology and History</font> 2, 1981, 49-71."}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["4510-1858"],"accessionNumberNum":"4510","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1858,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":["2017JU9562","2019LM9861","2019LR0903","2019LT6494","2019LU0921","2020MN9828"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-08","recordCreationDate":"2005-06-06","availableToBook":false}}