Roman Bronze Decorated Crossbow Brooch With Pin 4th Century

Description

Material: Copper bronze

Period: Roman imperial period

Date: 4th century

Origin: Probably Britain

Condition: About Very Fine with dark patina, with pin intact!

Description: A cruciform crossbow fibula or brooch with facetted onion-shaped knops,  highly decorated footplate for type; pin and catchplate present.

Size and Weight: 84mm, 52g

References: cf. Bayley and Butcher, Roman Brooches in Britain, items 289 & 290 for type.;  Hattatt’s Ancient Brooches p370, item 505 for a smaller example.

Features and Provenance: A UK collection.

Buttons did not exist at this point in history only brooches and clothes fastenings made of metal or bone were the norm. The Romans introduced a variety of fibulae or brooch types based on a crossbow type form and this was later adapted by the Saxons into the long brooch. Our example is a typical cruciform crossbow brooch with good detailed decoration so would have been for an owner with some status. The pins is unusually present as they usually rust away and are very rarely found intact. The smaller brooches such as this were usually worn in pairs by women to attach the tunic at the shoulders or singly to attach a cloak, but also used by the military.

Condition Summary. This varies with the age of the artefact and there are grades between

Extremely Fine (EF). Very slight traces of wear. all parts of pattern etc present. visible and clear

Very Fine (VF). Some signs of wear on the higher parts of the relief. all parts of pattern etc present. but may be worn

Fine (F). Wear on the artefact and parts of item and pattern etc may be missing or not visible