File:KENT4546. Early Medieval plated disc brooch. (FindID 42343).jpg

English: Fragment of gold sheet with garnet and opaque blue glass in cloisonné cellwork, part of an applied central setting from a silver plated disc brooch.

Description: The sheet consists of almost half of its original circular shape. It has a rim of beaded wire, and carries two registers of cloisonné cellwork. The outer register has the remains of two circular cells, now empty of their settings and filled with mud. These are separated from a triangular setting of four cells by open fields containing well-organised C-scrolls in fine beaded-wire filigree. The layout of the triangular setting is typical: at the apex is an arrow-shaped cell filled with opaque blue glass, which rests on two large stepped cells, one of which contains a garnet, the other missing its garnet and now mud-filled. These cells in their turn interlock with a single stepped cell at the base (mud-filled).

The inner band of ornament consists of a simple design built up of rectangular units, each consisting of two stepped cells interlocking with a small single central stepped cell. The central cell is placed alternately against the upper and lower margins of the register.

On the back of the fragment the broken-off shank of a rivet can be seen piercing the sheet. This is one of the fixings for attaching the gold sheet disc to the missing backplate of the brooch.

Dimensions: Length: 34mm; breadth: 14mm

Discussion: The fragment is part of the central setting of a plated disc brooch, a brooch type well known from Kentish cemeteries. Although fragmentary, the layout of the ornament puts the brooch setting within Avent's plated disc brooch class 2; the closest parallel is an example from the Anglo-Saxon cemetery at Gilton (Avent 1975, no. 153) and there are others with similar decoration from Teynham, Wingham and Faversham (Avent 1975, nos. 156,157 and 160).

Date: Avent dates the plated disc brooch series to the first two decades of the seventh century, c. 600-620 AD.