Late Anglo-Saxon brooch (late 11th century), found in a churchyard in Pitney (Somerset, England).
This brooch is 3.9cm in diameter, weighs 15g, and has a convex, circular shape. It is made of gilt and copper alloy, in the Urnes style.
A scalloped border surrounds the openwork design of a coiled, ribbon-like animal in combat with a snake. The first creature has a pronounced lentoid eye, which means that from one angle it looks circular, but from another angle it looks convex. There is a S-shaped lappet (fold or hanging piece of flesh) on the upper jaw, and a second one projecting from the neck. The animal is biting its own body, which forms a heart-shaped loop and is made of two bands, one plain and one beaded. It has spiral hips, with the sharply-angled foreleg terminating in a three-toed foot [top left] and the hind leg dividing into two tendrils (the longer tendril interlacing with the body to terminate in a foliate trefoil).
The snake's head, with two prominent eyes, bites the creature's neck from above. Its thin body, with one tendril offshoot, interlaces with the other animal's body, and ends in two scrolled tendrils. The reverse of the brooch is also gilded. The pin has been lost, but parts of its hinge and catch-plate still remain on the back.
The Pitney Brooch is an excellent example of the English version of the Urnes style. The clear combat motif, a single animal interlaced with a snake, makes it the closest piece of English metalwork to the Scandinavian Urnes-style animal brooches. However, it also displays several non-Scandinavian characteristics – the tightly-scrolled terminals, looped body, beaded border and circular scalloped frame.
