Object Description
A fine Byzantine bronze belt-buckle plate, featuring the images of a Saint and a pair of birds. The plate displays a circular section to the right, which is decorated with the draped and nimbate bust of a Saint, facing forwards. In his raised right hand, he holds a cross, indicating his identity. The figure has been rendered stylistically, with small incisions representing the folds of his drapery, his hair, fingers, and facial features, including two circular eyes and a long nose with a rounded tip. The background is slightly recessed and the image is encircled by a raised border, enriched with small, diagonal, linear grooves. A rectangular protrusion extends out from the right of the image. To the other side of the Saint, the plate has been decorated with a pair of rounded recessions, each outlined with a series of small dots. Within each recession, a raised image of a bird adorns the plate. The birds face each other and have also been depicted stylistically, with curving bodies, rounded wings, large circular eyes, and a small, pointed beak. Small incisions and dots further decorate these animals, representing their feathers. A pair of loops for a hinge attachment extends outwards from the left side of the plate, though one is now missing. The reverse is plain and unworked, apart from two attachment lugs, one with a rounded end and one with rectangular shape and a straight end. Both are pierced at the top with circular perforations.
Date: Circa 6th-8th Century AD