File:Medieval buckle plate; bird (FindID 498552).jpg

English: An incomplete cast copper alloy buckle plate, inlaid with enamel, and dating from the 13th or 14th century. It is decorated with a bird.

This square buckle plate is broken across the hinges, and the back plate and frame are missing. Ther are two copper alloy rivets, with domed heads, one in each of the corners at the opposite end to the broken fold. The front of the buckle plate has a sub-square recessed area (possibly achieved by 'paring away the metal', as suggested by Egan & Pritchard, 2002, page 113) where there appears to be remains of a background of blue and white enamel surrounding a slightly raised form of a winged, two-legged bird or beast, which appears to have a dragon-like head and fish-like tail, with some possible stamping to indicate feathers or scales and the eye.

A nearly identical example is illustrated in Egan, G & Pritchard, F, 2002, 'Medieval Finds from Excavations in London: 3: Dress Accessories c. 1150 - c. 1450', pages 113-4, fig 73, ref no 530. Both of these examples have noticeable thickness in comparison to other buckle plates of the period. Egan & Pritchard suggest that this is due to the decorative technique, and continue to state that 'the rough surface of the areas made lower was presumably for keying enamel (ie champlevé), though none survives'. However, from this and other metal detected examples, we can confirm that this presumption is indeed correct. The back of the buckle plate is undecorated. Overall, the buckle plate is in a worn but fair condition with a dark green patina. A hole in the centre of the plate appears to have been punched by a nail or similar implement. The hole is patinated and this could represent a crude repair, or be post depositional damage.

Egan & Pritchard continue to state in their publication that other buckle plates with enamelling have been studied. For example, Geddes, J & Carter, A, in their 1977 publication 'Objects of Non-Ferrous Metal, Amber and Paste' (pages 287-98) in Clarke, H & Carter, A (eds), 1977, 'Excavations in King's Lynn 1963-1970', Soc. For Medieval Archaeol Monograph 7, illustrate a 13th century plate decorated with a centaur. Fingerlin, I in the 1971 publication 'Gürter des Hohen und Späten Mittelalters', Munich, also details several buckles with enamelled frames and plates; of these only an openwork plate with a bird has an English provenance (Egan & Pritchard, 2002, page 114).