
Description
Drawing of a Lozenge Brooch
Drawing of a copper alloy lozenge brooch
Drawing of a copper alloy lozenge brooch in the Borre style. This type of brooch was common throughout the Danelaw in the Viking Age and was used as an accessory by women who wore Scandinavian dress.
Scandinavian brooches came in a variety of sizes and shapes which included disc, trefoil, lozenge, equal-armed, and oval shapes. The different brooch types served a variety of functions in Scandinavian female dress with oval brooches typically being used as shoulder clasps for apron-type dresses and the rest being used to secure an outer garment to an inner shift. Anglo-Saxon brooches do not match this diversity of form with large disc brooches being typical of ninth century dress styles with smaller ones becoming more popular in the later ninth and tenth centuries. However, since disc brooches were used by both Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian women they are distinguished by their morphology. Scandinavian brooches were typically domed with a hollow back while Anglo-Saxon brooches were usually flat. Moreover, Anglo-Saxon brooches were worn singly without accompanying accessories.
Object Type
- Brooch
Date
- circa 900 — 1066
Style
Ascribed Culture
Material
Collection
- Viking Designs
Keywords
- Borre, brooch, copper_alloy, Danelaw, drawing, jewellery, Lincolnshire, Portable_Antiquities_Scheme, Viking, women
Further information
Acknowledgements
Drawn by Adam Parsons of Blueaxe Reproductions
Jane F. Kershaw, Viking Identities: Scandinavian jewellery in England, Oxford University Press (2013), p. 20-25, 47.
References
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