The Witham bowl is a missing piece of

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...

silverware, described by T. D. Kendrick in '' The Antiquaries Journal'' in 1941 as "the most remarkable piece of pre-Conquest plate ever found in England". It was last seen at the National Exhibition of Works of Art at

Leeds General Infirmary Leeds General Infirmary, also known as the LGI, is a large teaching hospital based in the centre of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, and is part of the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust. Its previous name The General Infirmary at Leeds is still ...

in 1868, when it was owned by the MP John Heywood Hawkins.

Discovery

The

hanging bowl Hanging bowls are a distinctive type of artefact of the period between the end of Roman rule in Britain in c. 410 AD and the emergence of the Christian Anglo-Saxons, Anglo-Saxon kingdoms during the 7th century, continuing rather later. The survi ...

is named after the River Witham in

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

, where it was discovered at

Washingborough Washingborough is a village and civil parish in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. Located east of Lincoln and from Sleaford. The population in the 2001 census was 3,356, increasing to 3,482 at the 2011 census and 3,664 at ...

in 1816, along with several other articles - including a wooden canoe - in the course of drainage works. Its discovery was reported in the ''

Stamford Journal Stamford may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Stamford, Lincolnshire, a town and civil parish in England ** Stamford (UK Parliament constituency), a former constituency in Lincolnshire, England * Stamford, Northumberland, a hamlet in Renningto ...

'' of 19 April 1816. It is thought to have been made in the late 8th or early 9th century, and has a diameter of approximately and height of approximately .

Description

The richly decorated piece is an evolved "C bowl" with a broad circular indentation underneath. Foliate and vine-scroll

filigree Filigree (also less commonly spelled ''filagree'', and formerly written ''filigrann'' or ''filigrene'') is a form of intricate metalwork used in jewellery and other small forms of metalwork. In jewellery, it is usually of gold and silver, m ...

work decorates the top and bottom surfaces of the flat central indentation. In the middle of the bowl, on the top surface of the indentation, stands a long-necked dog-like animal, with blue glass eyes, tall enough to peer over the rim of the bowl; around it are arranged four small projecting animal heads. Semi-precious stones are also mounted inside the bowl. Equally spaced around the rim are four animal heads as the tops of loop escutcheons that extend down the sides of the bowl, held on with rivets and decorated with

millefiori Millefiori () is a glasswork technique which produces distinctive decorative patterns on glassware. The term millefiori is a combination of the Italian words "mille" (thousand) and "fiori" (flowers). Apsley Pellatt in his book ''Curiosities of ...

panels, terminating with small projecting human heads below the bowl. The loop escutcheons would allow the bowl to be suspended. There is a deep groove around the outside of the bowl, below the rim. The bowl may have been used to contain water, but, like other hanging bowls, its intended function is not certainly known. It has been compared to the 8th century Ormside bowl. The filigree decoration resembles the Kirkoswald brooch and the blue glass recalls the Ardagh Chalice. The choice of material is unusual: almost all other hanging bowls are bronze. Other Anglo-Saxon articles have been found in the River Witham, including pins. The bowl may have been deposited in the river from a causeway, as a

votive offering A votive offering or votive deposit is one or more objects displayed or deposited, without the intention of recovery or use, in a sacred place for religious purposes. Such items are a feature of modern and ancient societies and are generally ...

. The current location of the bowl is unknown. It may have been sold by

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, and it has additional salerooms in New York, Paris, Hong Kong, Milan, Geneva, Shan ...

in the 1920s, as part of the sale of a collection. It is known from full-scale colour-tinted drawings held by the

Society of Antiquaries of London The Society of Antiquaries of London (SAL) is a learned society of historians and archaeologists in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1707, received its royal charter in 1751 and is a Charitable organization, registered charity. It is based ...

.Hunt on for vanished Saxon bowl
BBC News, 21 April 2005

References

The Corpus of Late Celtic Hanging-Bowls

Rupert Bruce-Mitford Rupert Leo Scott Bruce-Mitford (14 June 1914 – 10 March 1994) was a British archaeologist and scholar. He spent the majority of his career at the British Museum, primarily as the Keeper of the Department of British and Medieval Antiquities, ...

, Oxford University Press, 2005, {{ISBN, 019813410X, pp. 208-212

External links

Alert for missing pre-Conquest bowl
The Guardian, 21 April 2005 Anglo-Saxon art Silver objects Medieval European metalwork objects