Late Anglo-Saxon brooch (late 11thcentury), found in a churchyard in Pitney (Somerset, England).This

Late Anglo-Saxon brooch (late 11thcentury), found in a churchyard in Pitney (Somerset, England).This brooch is 3.9cm in diameter,weighs 15g, and has a convex, circular shape.  It is made of gilt andcopper alloy, in the Urnes style.A scalloped border surrounds theopenwork design of a coiled, ribbon-like animal in combat with asnake.  The first creature has a pronounced lentoideye, which means that from one angle it looks circular, but fromanother angle it looks convex.  There is a S-shaped lappet(fold or hanging piece offlesh) on the upper jaw, and a second one projecting from the neck. The animal is biting its own body, which forms a heart-shaped loopand is made of two bands, one plain and one beaded.  It has spiralhips, with the sharply-angled foreleg terminating in a three-toedfoot [top left] and the hind leg dividing into two tendrils (thelonger tendril interlacing with the body to terminate in a foliatetrefoil).Thesnake’s head, with two prominent eyes, bites the creature’s neck fromabove.  Its thin body, with one tendril offshoot, interlaces with theother animal’s body, and ends in two scrolled tendrils.  The reverseof the brooch is also gilded.  The pin has been lost, but parts ofits hinge and catch-plate still remain on the back.ThePitney Brooch is an excellent example of the English version of theUrnes style.  The clear combat motif, a single animal interlaced witha snake, makes it the closest piece of English metalwork to theScandinavian Urnes-style animal brooches.  However, it also displaysseveral non-Scandinavian characteristics – the tightly-scrolledterminals, looped body, beaded border and circular scalloped frame. -- source link

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