in England; and copy after copy must have been made, during a considerable interval, before the style of workmanship on the costliest objects could have fallen so far below that of the earliest examples. Similarly debased is the ornament on the pair of gilt bronze clasps (fig. 3) found in the same grave close together on the left side of the waist. They appear to have belonged to the belt, from which no doubt a knife and other objects were suspended; and each pair consists of two triangular plates smaller than that of the buckle, but not unlike that in outline and decoration, though the delicate cell-work and inlay of the larger jewel are here unrepresented.
Above the head on the right were two shield bosses of iron belonging to an ordinary type, the wooden framework of the shields having perished. Close to these lay an iron knife and a ring of the same metal, 4½ inches in diameter. Opposite these relics, near the south-east corner of the grave, was, first, a bucket of about 12 inches diameter, with an iron frame and ashen staves, the outside coated with thin embossed plates
Bronze Bowl from Taplow Barrow.
of bronze. Next came to light a fine piece of bronze-working in the shape of a standing bowl (see fig.), 12 inches high and 16 inches in diameter at the rim, which is twelve-sided with knobs at the angles and a pair of massive drop-handles.[1] The base contained a quantity of carbonate of lead to ensure stability, but the vessel lay on its side; and underneath the stem was a small drinking-horn with silver-gilt bands and
- ↑ One almost identical found in Egypt is assigned to the fifth or sixth century (Strzygowski, Koptische Kunst, p. 262, No. 9407, pl. xxvii.); and a similar border occurs on a bronze bowl from Kent in the British Museum.
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