CIRCA 6TH CENTURY A.D.

Details

A PAIR OF MEROVINGIAN GOLD AND GARNET DISC BROOCHES
CIRCA 6TH CENTURY A.D.
1 ½ in. (3.8 cm.) diam.

Provenance

Reputedly found in Witernesse, near Saint-Omer, France, in the ancient province of Artois.
Comtesse Martine-Marie-Octavie Pol de Béhague (1870-1939), Paris; thence by descent to Marquis Jean-Louis Hubert de Ganay (1922-2013), France.
Antiquités et Objets d'Art: Collection de Martine, Comtesse de Béhague, Provenant de la Succession du Marquis de Ganay, Sotheby's, Monaco, 5 December 1987, lot 51.
with Robin Symes, London, 2006.

Literature

W. Froehner, Collection de la Comtesse R. De Béarn, Premier Cahier, Paris, 1905, p. 20, pl. IV, 16-17.
N. Case, Art in the Dark Ages in Europe, Catalogue of an Exhibition held at the Burlington Fine Arts Club, London, 1930, p. 73, nos 25-25 and colour frontispiece.
E. Coche de la Ferté, Aniker schmuck von 2-8 Jahrhundert, Orbis Pictus, vol. 34, Stuttgart, 1967, pl. XIX.

Exhibited

Burlington Fine Art Club, London, Art in the Dark Ages in Europe, 1930.

Conditions of sale

Brought to you by

Claudio Corsi Specialist, Head of Department

ccorsi@christies.com +44 (0) 20 7389 2607

Lot Essay

The Merovingians were a Salian Frankish dynasty that ruled the Franks for nearly 300 years from the beginning of the 5th century. Their territory largely corresponded to ancient Gaul as well as the Roman provinces of Raetia, Germania Superior and the southern part of Germania. Childeric I (457 – 481 A.D.), the son of Merovech, leader of the Salian Franks, founded the Merovingian dynasty, but it was his son Clovis I (481–511 A.D.) who united all of Gaul under Merovingian rule. The cross shape in the middle might show the growing importance of Christian religion in the Merovingian kingdom - particularly after Clovis's conversion.

More from Antiquities

View All