Bow brooch

Parcel gilt bow brooch with niello and garnet inaly and chip-carved decoration, Frankish.

Bow brooches are named after the arch or bow in their middle. They are dress fasteners which were used by women. On their back there is a pin and catch, similar to a safety-pin mechanism.

Around the enlarged semi-circular plate, four stylised birds' heads, each with a large garnet eye, are arranged. The semi-circular as well as the rhomboid plate are decorated with spiral ornament executed in a technique called chip-carving. This ornament was designed before the brooch was cast.

Bow brooches such as this were worn in pairs by women who could afford them. The fashion of wearing them changed over time. It was first usual to fix a dress with on brooch on each shoulder. Later on, the brooches occur at waist or thigh level in graves. We therefore think that women wore them either on a decorative band suspended from their belt or that they closed an open wrap-around skirt or dress with it.

This brooch type is known from graves in France and dates mainly to the the first half of the 6th century.

Beautiful and costly bow brooches such as this, were worn in pairs by women who could afford them. The fashion of wearing them changed over time. From the evidence of burials we know that the brooches were first used to fix a dress with one brooch on each shoulder. Later on, the brooches were worn at waist or thigh level when they were worn either on a decorative band suspended from a belt or perhaps were used to fasten a wrap-around skirt or dress. Bow brooches are named after the arch or bow in their middle and were fastened with a pin and catch on their back, similar to a safety-pin mechanism.

M.114-1939