Garnets, gold and Anglo-Saxons

As many of you are aware I live quite close to the Sutton Hoo archaeological site which is owned by the National Trust.

Archaeological sites such as Sutton Hoo have given us an insight to the historical information of the Anglo-Saxon period.

Sutton Hoo is the site of two 6th and 7th century cemeteries near Woodbridge, Suffolk.

It first began to be excavated in 1939, and was found to contain many Anglo-Saxon wonders, including an undisturbed ship burial. This site, among others, has given us an interesting insight into the life of Anglo-Saxon people, their customs, and of course their jewellery.

There are around 18 burial mounds within the Royal Burial Ground at Sutton Hoo. Many have been so eroded over the centuries that it's hard to know exactly how many there were.

The burials date to the 7th century AD. The people buried here left no written records, so it's impossible to know exactly who they were, but historians strongly suspect that Sutton Hoo was the cemetery for the royal dynasty of East Anglia, the Wuffingas, who claimed descent from the god Woden.

Most of the mounds were robbed, largely in the Tudor period, and much of what was there was lost. Two mounds escaped this fate - the Great Ship Burial, or King's Mound One, and the Horseman's Mound.

Although known as the ‘Dark Ages’, you might be surprised to know that the Anglo-Saxon period was actually a time full of vibrant, eye-catching colours.

Anglo Saxon jewellery had motifs and themes so strong and unique that jewellery is still crafted in the same styles today. As we already know, the custom of wearing jewellery originates far back in history. The ancient Egyptians and Romans, both adorned themselves in rich bejewelled ornamentation, and the Anglo Saxons were no different. Comprising of many Germanic tribes, the Anglo Saxons inhabited Britain from the 5th century. Their customs, designs, and jewellery took inspiration both from their Roman predecessors and from Germanic art.

The ship being excavated + the famous Sutton Hoo Helmet.

Status

During this period, jewellery was worn in order to impress. Not only would people choose to wear jewellery for its bright colours, statement shapes, and intricate metalwork, but also for the status that came with it. Primarily, jewellery was a display of wealth rank within society thus it was therefore of the utmost importance that your jewels were impressive and eye-catching.

Various methods and materials were used to achieve this bright, eye-catching effect. Perhaps the most obvious way of showing off your wealth was gold, gold, and more gold. This precious metal was very high value and therefore demanded respect, with goldsmiths becoming highly revered members of society due to this. Apart from gold, silver was also a popular choice, alongside glass beads or gemstones such as garnet, amber or amethyst. Many Anglo-Saxon women of a high rank would have worn necklaces crafted in these materials to display their wealth.

Anglo Saxon Techniques

Many polychrome effects were harnessed to make colourful pieces. The inlay of precious stones such as garnet was common as were these other techniques:

Mock champlevé: A form of enamelwork in which hollows are made in a piece of metal and then filled with colourful enamel.

Lidded cloisonné: A method in which enamel is applied to a metal background and fired in raised cells.

Inlay effects: A way of fixing gemstones to jewellery by inserting them into specifically hollowed out spaces.

Filigree: Ornamental work of fine metals into delicate tracery.

Granulation in gold: A technique in which the surface of an item is covered in spherules or granules or gold.

Metal finishes were also important in Anglo Saxon jewellery. For example, gilding, silver plating and niello inlay (niello is a black mixture, usually of sulphur, copper, silver, and lead).

Anglo-Saxon Brooches

Brooches instantly come to mind when thinking about Anglo-Saxon jewellery. Unlike decorative brooches worn today, Anglo-Saxon’s used brooches both as ornament and as a practicality. Single brooches may have fastened a cape, whilst a pair of brooches would be worn on the shoulder, pinning up the fashionable tubular dresses of the time. The brooches also let women adjust their dresses as they pleased.

The early art style of the Anglo-Saxon period is identified as being dominated by ‘Style I’ and ‘Style II’. Popular in the late 5th and 6th centuries, both zoomorphic styles can be identified through their distinctive use of jumbled animal limb motifs in style fondly known as ‘animal salad’ by scholars. Initially thought to be an abstract style, Anglo-Saxon artefacts have since been decoded to identify multi-layered symbols.

Toggles for fastening clothes.

The toggles shown here are such an amazing pieces of jewellers’ skills the angles are perfect, the filigree work is so refined but what surprised me was the skill used to produce the red decoration.

After doing considerable research it appears that the red ‘substance’ behind the gold filigree is not a form of enamel as I had thought but it is actually garnet that has been so skilfully cut and shaped it lets light shine through and the corners of the two pyramids are garnets that have been cut and shaped at various angles that they are perfect and fit so well that there is only the background which is composed of very fine grids of gold and the gold filigree work in the front holding the stones in place, no bezels as such. A remarkable feat of stone cutting and gold smithing skills. The blue and white squares are made of glass and are known as millefiori.

Buckle.

This gold buckle found at Sutton Hoo was obviously part of the King’s treasure. It is so well designed and made that it has survived hundreds of years.

The buckle is composed of animals mainly serpents, birds and some mammals. It is quite difficult to work out the animals in the buckle.

The British Museum has this diagram to show the animals in the buckle design.

In early Anglo-Saxon England, buckles used to fasten waist belts were a means of expressing a man’s wealth and status. The type of metal used and the fineness of decoration were key factors. This spectacular gold buckle from the Sutton Hoo ship burial shows that the person commemorated there was of great importance.

Weighing more than 400 grams, the buckle is actually a hollow box that opens at the back on a hinge beneath the loop. A locking system, involving a complex system of sliders and internal rods which fit into slotted fixings, enables it to close securely. Similarly-made buckles from Frankish and Burgundian parts of the Continent appear to have contained Christian relics, but we do not know for certain whether the Sutton Hoo buckle was used for this purpose.

No fewer than thirteen creatures decorate the buckle’s surfaces. The plate and round tongue shield feature writhing snakes and intertwining four-legged beasts. Their bodies are highlighted with punched ornament filled with black niello. Stylised snakes biting their own bodies slither on the loop, while at the tip of the buckle, two animals grip a small, dog-like creature in their jaws. These, together with the two fierce birds’ heads on the buckle’s shoulders, make this extraordinary object one of the most powerful images from early Anglo-Saxon England.

The famous 6th century Triskelion Brooch was totally crafted by hand.

The Cloisonne motif is three whirling arms in the form of birds' heads. The eyes of the birds, as well as the eye of the brooch itself, are deep-red garnet.

Considering this jewellery was made between the 5th and 7th centuries the techniques used in gold work, stone cutting plus adding filigree grids behind the cut gemstones that not only hold the stones in place as well as giving the stone extra depth and decoration the workmanship is perfect. The Anglo Saxons had the skills of any high class jeweller now who uses machinery and who are assisted by technology besides modern tools.

‘There was a mass of treasures, wealth brought there from far-away lands. Nor have I heard of a ship more splendidly laden with weapons for battle and dress for war, with swords and shirts of mail. ‘

Quote from the epic poem ‘Beowulf’