Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 4.djvu/273

 ARCHAEOLOGICAL INTELLIGEXCK. 253 FIBDLA. ASa-.u^z.^.s ixiuSBUM. the outline of the pattern. The four divisions of the exterior circle were origi- nally filled with paste, on which were laid thin laminse of gold ornamented with an interlaced pattern in gold wire, of two sizes, delicately milled or notched, resembling rope-work. Of these compartments one is now vacant. This wire ornament was pressed into the gold plate beneath, and there are no traces of any other means than pressure having been used to fix it. The four smaller circles and that in the centre are ornamented with bosses of a white substance, either ivory or bone, but the material is so much decomposed it is difficult to say which. These bosses are attached to the copper plate beneath by iron pins. The entire face of the fibula was ori- ginally set with small pieces of garnet-coloured glass laid upon hatched goldfoil. The upper and lower plates of this ornament are bound together by a band of copper gilt, slightly grooved. The acus is lost, but, from the remains of its attachment, it seems to have resembled in character that on the reverse of the fibula represented in the Nenia Britannica, above alluded to. There is also a loop, as in that example, intended, as Mr. Douglas believed, to secure the fibula to the dress. This object is now preserved in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford; and we are indebted to the Rev. Philip B. Duncan for permission £o engrave it. Fibula; of smaller size, presenting the same general character both of form and ornamentation, are not uncommon. Several are given in the Nenia Britannica^, but it is rarely they occur of the dimensions of the pre- sent example. With the exception of that already referred to, as figured in the Nenia, from the collection of Mr. Faussett, the next largest specimen ■ Plates V. Vin. IX. XIL XXL VOT.. IV. L 1