Silver, Butter, Cloth by Jane Kershaw & Gareth Williams & Søren Sindbæk & James Graham-Campbell

Author:Jane Kershaw & Gareth Williams & Søren Sindbæk & James Graham-Campbell
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780192563057
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2018-11-27T16:00:00+00:00

Tree Decoration Pendants

Three pendants (Fig. 8.2 nos. 3–5) depict a plant ornament, the so-called world-tree, one of which is placed on a pendant upside down as if hanging from the loop. Other than that, these three pendants are very similar to each other both technologically and stylistically. The base of the pendants is made of flat gold foil which has been cut out in one piece as a circular body part with an additional oblong extension for a suspension loop. Extra small platforms have been left for decorative collared granules at the foot of the loop. The end of the back-bent loop is either triangular or oval. The suspension loops are decorated with S-shaped beaded bands, with either filed or impressed small decorative beads on top, on the front and back. The back of the suspension loop as well as all the filigree and granulation work seems to be fastened by chemical soldering (see Duczko 1985, 26–9). This allows for repeated soldering and must have been particularly necessary in the cases where granules are placed on top of filigree.

On the face of the pendants four different types of wires have been used (Fig. 8.3). The most elaborate is a beaded wire with an equator cut, which is utilized for all tree branches and around the pendants’ edges. Two separate pieces of wire are used on the edges: one for the main body part, the other for a suspension loop. The latter starts on the front and travels all the way down the back of the loop, before returning to the front, where it ends. It first seemed that the same wire was used for edge decoration and for collars around the granules on the sides of suspension loops. However, the SEM-EDS analysis indicated that the alloy content of the collars is slightly different from other filigree wires with higher inclusion of gold (up to 89 per cent) and silver within the range of 10–13 per cent (other wires have gold around 79–84 per cent and silver around 14–17 per cent).

Fig. 8.3. Selection of the SEM images of the tree-pendants. A—collared granule; B—beaded band on the suspension loop; C—tree branch with granule and two different connecting elements (beaded band (bottom) and beaded wire with small beads (top)); D—different size granules (E. Oras).

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