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of a class frequently found and described. Its length
is nearly four inches, and the front is chased with a not unusual pattern.
The Glass Vessel (Plate III.).—This is of very
delicate material, and of the usual pale-green colour of Saxon glass. It
has, as will be seen in the illustration, much of the common raised
thread-work upon it, some of which has taken the form of five arched
ornaments, springing from knobs or drops standing nearly a quarter of an
inch out from the glass near its bottom; and it terminates in a sixth
knob. It is of an unusual, perhaps unique shape, as the produce of an
Anglo-Saxon grave, but bears some resemblance to a specimen taken from one
of the graves of the Alemanni at Oberflacht, in Suabia, as described by
Mr. Wylie in ‘Archaeologia’ (vol. xxxvi. part 1). When first taken out
of the grave, amid all its iridescent qualities, it presented a prevailing
ruby or reddish-brown colour. Mr. Wylie alludes to a similar appearance in
some glass vessels
found in ancient graves in |
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Germany, which, he suggests, may have arisen
from the residuum of wine or blood.1 Probably it is one of a
class of vessels manufactured expressly for funeral rites, as its
material and form are far too delicate for daily use. Its height is
about five inches.
The Spoon or Ladle (Plate II.,
fig. 3).—This
elegant relic is in excellent preservation. The handle, which is of
silver, is perforated near the top, for the purpose of suspension, and
bears running down it a delicate zigzag ornament. Its base spreads out
to join the
1. [ This is but the ordinary result of
decomposition on glass, and may at least be proved to be no residuum of
the last contents of the glass be its appearance on the outside as well
as the inside. On another glass vessel, found at Sarr, there is so thick
an outer crust of brown, which has, too, so strong a smell, that I was
inclined to think it might have been coated with paint ; but a great
authority on ancient glass, to whom I have shewn it, assures me that
both crust and smell are occasioned by decomposition- T.G.F.] |