Art Resource - ART209498

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Chatelaine plate, Merovingian, 7th century. Copper-alloy plate, originally tinned to resemble silver. When viewed vertically, the openwork design gives the impression of a stick figure between two other figures. The paired figures have birds' heads, and arms at an anatomically impossible angle. When the object is viewed on its side the design can be correctly read as a fish between two eagles. The eagle has an early, pagan significance: the Romans associated it with Jupiter and the Franks possibly with Wodan. However the scene may be given a Christian interpretation: the eagle possibly representing Christ, and the fish, a common Christian image, representing the redeemed human soul. The plate would have been worn on a chatelaine, a kind of belt, with straps attached to the loops at the top. It comes from Amiens, Somme, France. M AND ME, 1891,10-19,59.

Location British Museum/London/Great Britain

Unique Identifier ART209498

Type Image

Purpose Public

Size 4000px × 3794px

Photo Credit Erich Lessing / Art Resource, NY

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