This group of objects was found in the grave of a Langobardic horseman, who was buried in his warrior dress, with weapons, shield, helmet, and the fittings for his horse. What remains are the many gold pieces that would have ornamented his clothing and equipment, and they attest to the great wealth of the Langobardic aristocracy within a generation of settling in Italy.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Gold Belt Buckle and Gold Strap End
Date:ca. 600
Culture:Langobardic
Medium:Gold
Dimensions:Overall: 2 1/16 x 1 3/16 x 9/16 in. (5.3 x 3 x 1.4 cm)
Classification:Metalwork-Gold
Credit Line:Purchase, 1895
Object Number:95.15.98a
Found in Castel Trosino, central Italy.; Samuel T. Baxter, Florence (from at least 1876-1895)
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Age of Spirituality: Late Antique and Early Christian Art, Third to Seventh Century," November 19, 1977–February 12, 1978.
Monastero di Santa Giulia. "Il futuro dei longobardi: l'Italia e la costruzione dell'Europa di Carlo Magno," June 18–November 19, 2000.
Baxter, S.T. "On Some Lombardic Gold Ornaments Found at Chiusi." The Archaeological Journal 33 (1876). p. 107, pl. III, no. 1.
Venturi, Adolfo. Storia dell'arte italiana: Volume 2, Dall'arte Barbarica alla Romanica. Milan: Ulrico Hoepli, 1902. p. 73, fig. 60.
Kuhn, Herbert. "Wichtige Langobardische Funde in Amerikanischen Sammlungen." Ipek 12 (1938). pp. 178–81, pl. 59.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Mediaeval Jewelry: A Picture Book. New York: Museum Press Limited, 1940. pl. 11.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Mediaeval Jewelry: A Picture Book. 2nd ed. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1944. pl. 11.
Hessen, Otto von. Secondo contributo alla archeologia longobarda in Toscana: reperti isolati e di provenienza incerta. Florence: Olschki, 1975. p. 15, fig. 1.
Weitzmann, Kurt, ed. Age of Spirituality: Late Antique and Early Christian Art, Third to Seventh Century. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1979. no. 303, pp. 325–26.
Durand, Jannic, ed. Byzance: L'Art Byzantin dans les Collections Publiques Françaises. Paris: Musée du Louvre, 1992. pp. 135–36.
Paroli, Lidia, ed. La necropoli altomedievale di Castel Trosino: Bizantini e Longobardi nelle Marche. Ascoli Piceno: Museo Archeologico Statale, 1995. pp. 18–19, ill. p. 18.
Vallet, Françoise. "Une Tombe de Riche Cavalier Lombard Découverte à Castel Trosino." In La Noblesse romaine et les chefs barbares du IIIe au VIIe siècle, edited by Michel Kazanski, and Françoise Vallet. Rouen: Musée des Antiquités Nationales, 1995. pp. 335–41, fig. 3, 4.
Brown, Katharine R. "If Only the Dead Could Talk: An Update on the East German and Hunnish Jewelry Collections at the Metropolitan Museum of Art." In Ancient Jewelry and Archaeology, edited by Adriana Calinescu. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1996. pp. 224–34, fig. 1, ill. p. 225.
Brown, Katharine R., Dafydd Kidd, and Charles T. Little, ed. 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. p. 145, 339, fig. 13.10.
Paolucci, Giulio. "Il 'Longobardo d'oro' dell'Arcisa: un ritrovamento eccezionale e un giallo archeologico." In Goti e Longobardi a Chiusi, edited by Carla Falluomini. Chiusi: Edizioni Luì, 2009. pp. 169–97, fig. 1, 21.
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