The boss, or umbo, was originally attached over a hole in the center of a circular or oval wooden shield and protected the hand of the person holding it. The shield was carried by the grip, which was riveted across the hollow center of the shield on the inner side. These objects come from the tomb of a military official in Vermand, France, an area known in the fourth century as Gaul, which was then a province of the Roman Empire. Other finds from the same tomb, including a belt buckle, a decorative plaque, and the fittings from a spear shaft, are displayed in one of the Metropolitan Museum’s galleries of early medieval art.
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Title:Shield Boss and Grip
Date:late 4th century
Geography:Vermand
Culture:Western European, Gallo-Roman (found in Vermand, France)
Medium:Iron, silver, gold, glass
Dimensions:Shield boss: H., 6 1/4 in. (16 cm); Diam., 7 7/8 in. (19.99 cm); shield grip: L., 14 5/16 in. (36.4 cm)
Classification:Miscellaneous-Ironwork
Credit Line:Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917
Accession Number:17.192.141, .142a–c
Ex. coll.: Jumel of Amiens; Boulanger; Jumel of Amiens; Stanislas Baron, Paris; J. Pierpont Morgan, New York Vermand, Aisne, northern France
Paris. Petit Palais, Paris. "Exposition de l'Art Francais des Origines a 1900," 1900.
Hartford. Wadsworth Atheneum. "The Pierpont Morgan Treasures: Loan Exhibition in Honor of the Junius Spencer Morgan Memorial," November 10–December 18, 1960, no. 8a–d.
Boston. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. "Romans & Barbarians," December 17, 1976–February 27, 1977, no. 104b, c.
Mainz. Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum. "Gallien in der Spätantike: von Kaiser Constantin zu Frankenkönig Childerich," October 29, 1980–January 4, 1981.
Paris. Musée du Luxembourg. "A l'Aube de la France: la Gaule de Constantin à Childéric," February 26–May 3, 1981.
Eck, Theophile. "Le Cimetière Gallo-Romain de Vermand (Aisne)." Bulletin Archéologique du Comité des Travaux Historiques et Scientifiques (1887), pp. 184–201 (Vermand treasure and find site discussed).
Pilloy, Jules. "Coup d'Oeil General sur les Decouvertes d'Antiquites Prehistoriques, Gauloises, Romaines, Merovingiennes et Carlovingiennes Faites dans le Department de l'Aisne depuis 1858." Congrès Archeologique de France (1887), pp. 135–140.
Pilloy, Jules. "Le Tombeau Militaire de Vermand." Bulletin de la Société Nationale des Antiquaires de France (1887), pp. 199–201.
Pilloy, Jules, and A. Jumel. "Le Tombeau Militaire de Vermand." Bulletin Archeologique du Comite des Traveaux Historiques et Scientifiques (1887), pp. 213–222, pl. I.
Eck, Theophile. Les Deux Cimetères Gallo-Romains de Vermand et de Saint-Quentin: Récit Complet des Fouilles Faites Durant les Années 1885–87. Paris: Leroux, 1891. pp. 21–23, 120–34, 252–58, pl. II, XV–XVII (Vermand find site, and related sites and material discussed and illustrated).
Pilloy, Jules. "Le Tombeau Militaire de Vermand." Etudes sur d'Anciens Lieux de Sépultures dans l'Aisne (1895), pp. 38–52.
Boulanger, Claude. Le Mobilier Funéraire Gallo-Romain et Franc en Picardie et en Artois. Paris: Charles Foulard, 1902–1905. pp. xiv, xxiv–xxv, 45–50, n. 2, pl. 19.
Ricci, Seymour de. Catalogue of a Collection of Merovingian Antiquities Belonging to J. Pierpont Morgan. Paris: C. Berger, 1910. pp. 28–31, pls. X–XI, nos. 141–46, ill.
Breck, Joseph, and Meyric R. Rogers. The Pierpont Morgan Wing; A Handbook. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1925. p. 7 (two ornamental plaques, buckle and ring from the Vermand treasure, ill.).
Leeds, E.T. Early Anglo-Saxon Art and Archaeology: Being the Rhind Lectures, Delivered in Edinburgh, 1935. Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press, 1936. pp. 4, 5, 11 (comparative study of decorative motifs).
Salin, Edouard, and Albert France-Lanord. Le Fer à l'Époque Mérovingienne: Étude Technique et Archéologique. Paris: Librairie Orientaliste Paul Geuthner, 1943. pp. 99–101, 122, 195, figs. 12a, b.
Rorimer, James J. Mediaeval Jewelry: A Picture Book. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1944. fig. 8 (buckle, ring and large spear mount from the Vermand treasure, ill.).
Forsyth, William H. "Provincial Roman Enamels Recently Acquired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art." The Art Bulletin (December 1950), p. 306 (similar decoration as on a plaque from the Vermand treasure).
Werner, Joachim. "Zur Entstehung der Reihengräberzivilisation." Archaeologia Geographica 1 pp. 23–32 (Vermand find discussed).
Forsyth, William H. "The Vermand Treasure." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin (May 1951), pp. 236–40.
Salin, Edouard. "Le Mobilier Funéraire de la Bussière-Étable Près Châteauponsac (Haute-Vienne)." Monuments et Mémoires Publiés par l'Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres (1951), p. 94 (Vermand spear head discussed).
Rorimer, James J., and William H. Forsyth. "The Medieval Galleries." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin (February 1954), p.124 (Vermand treasure discussed and ill.).
Grancsay, Stephen V. "The New Galleries of European Arms and Armor." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin (May 1956), pp. 205, 207, ill.
Lafaurie, Jean. "Trésors de Chécy." Trésors Monétaires et Plaques-Boucles de la Gaule Romaine: Bavai, Montbouy, Chécy, (1958), pl. IX, L (Vermand objects illustrated).
Grancsay, Stephen V. "A Viking Chieftain's Sword." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin (March 1959), ill. on cover.
Wadsworth Atheneum. The Pierpont Morgan Treasures: Loan Exhibition in Honor of the Junius Spencer Morgan Memorial November 10 Through December 18, 1960. Hartford: Wadsworth Atheneum, 1960. p. 9, no. 8a–d.
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Romans & Barbarians. Boston: The Museum, 1976. p. 74, no. 104b, c, ill.
Coquelle, Jacques. La Mémoire de Vermand. Amiens, France: Dalmanio, 1985. pp. 67–75, ill.
Schorsch, Deborah. "The Vermand Treasure: A Testimony to the Presence of Sarmatians in the Western Roman Empire." Metropolitan Museum Journal (1986), pp. 17–40, figs. 2–5.
Nickel, Helmut. "Arms and Armor from the Permanent Collection." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin (Summer 1991), pp. 10–11, 64, ill.
Dickinson, Tania Marguerite, and Heinrich Härke. "Early Anglo-Saxon Shields." In Archaeologia. Vol. 110. London: Society of Antiquaries of London, 1992. pp. 1–94.
Brown, Katharine R., Dafydd Kidd, and Charles T. Little, eds. From Attila to Charlemagne: Arts of the Early Medieval Period in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York and New Haven: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000. pp. 80–81, 85–86, 351; fig. 8.8, 8.12, 8.13.
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