Silver bowl found in Oegstgeest
Type:
Bowls
Date:
silver bowl 300 to 500,
gilded fittings 600 to 650
Location or Findspot (Modern-Day Country):
Netherlands
Dimensions:
11 × 21 cm
Description:
This unusual silver bowl inlaid with gold was excavated in Oegstgeest, a small village of about sixty residents that flourished from ca. 500 to 725 (now a suburb of Leiden). Set into the silver are gilded animals and mythical creatures (one with a human leg in its mouth) as well as rosette-wheels and other patterns. The center is marked by a disk of gold decorated with garnets and gold wire. On the exterior, two thick mounts of gilded sliver and garnets have rings at the top from which the bowl could be suspended. The bowl would not have stayed level without a third ring, but it could have been displayed with just two. It may have been used for drinking or for some ritual, but a small hole punched in the bottom ultimately made it unusable for liquids. It was deliberately deposited at the edge of the village, perhaps in conjunction with a nearby burial.
The bowl itself seems to be a fourth- or fifth-century artifact, and the closest comparisons for its imagery come from the eastern Mediterranean and western Asia. The gold disk and mounts, however, are typical of Germanic (Merovingian) works of the first half of the seventh century. The bowl shows that some high-value objects were mobile and could be adapted and reused in different cultural contexts. Oegstgeest was on the Rhine River, and products moved most easily along sea and river routes. Fig seeds found in a well had to come from the Mediterranean, some pigs came from Germany, and the tooth enamel of one child's skeleton reveals that he came from England. Before the discovery of this bowl, there was no evidence for elites living in Oegstgeest.
The bowl itself seems to be a fourth- or fifth-century artifact, and the closest comparisons for its imagery come from the eastern Mediterranean and western Asia. The gold disk and mounts, however, are typical of Germanic (Merovingian) works of the first half of the seventh century. The bowl shows that some high-value objects were mobile and could be adapted and reused in different cultural contexts. Oegstgeest was on the Rhine River, and products moved most easily along sea and river routes. Fig seeds found in a well had to come from the Mediterranean, some pigs came from Germany, and the tooth enamel of one child's skeleton reveals that he came from England. Before the discovery of this bowl, there was no evidence for elites living in Oegstgeest.
Relevant Textbook Chapter(s):
2,
3
Repository and Online Resources:
• Learn more about the bowl here.
• Zoom in on the bowl here.
Image Credits:
Photos by Restaura, Heelen; used by permission.
