The Witham bowl is a missing piece of

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...

silverware Silverware may refer to: * Household silver including **Tableware **Cutlery **Candlesticks *The work of a silversmith * Silverware is also a slang term for a collection of trophies A trophy is a tangible, durable reminder of a specific achieveme ...

, described by

T. D. Kendrick Sir Thomas Downing Kendrick (1 April 1895 – 2 November 1979) was a British archaeologist and art historian. Life Early life Kendrick was born on 1 April 1895 in Handsworth, a suburb of Birmingham, England to Fanny Susan (nee Downing, bor ...

in '' The Antiquaries Journal'' in 1941 as "the most remarkable piece of pre-Conquest plate ever found in England". It was last seen at the National Exhibition of Works of Art at Leeds General Infirmary in 1868, when it was owned by art historian

John Heywood Hawkins John Heywood Hawkins (21 May 1802 – 27 June 1877) was a British politician and barrister. The son of John Hawkins, Hawkins largely grew up at Bignor Park in West Sussex. Hawkins was educated at Eton College, and then at Trinity College, Cam ...

Discovery

The

hanging bowl Hanging bowls are a distinctive type of artefact of the period between the end of Roman rule in Britain in c. 410 AD and the emergence of the Christian Anglo-Saxon kingdoms during the 7th century. The surviving examples have mostly been found i ...

is named after the River Witham in

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...

, where it was discovered at

Washingborough Washingborough is a village in the North Kesteven district in Lincolnshire, England. Located east of Lincoln and from Sleaford. The population in the 2001 census was 3,356, increasing to 3,482 at the 2011 census. It is situated on the lower ...

in 1816, along with several other articles - including a wooden canoe - in the course of drainage works. Its discovery was reported in the '' Stamford Journal'' of 19 April 1816. It is thought to have been made in the late 8th or early 9th century, and has a diameter of approximately and height of approximately .

Description

The richly decorated piece is an evolved "C bowl" with a broad circular indentation underneath. Foliate and vine-scroll

filigree Filigree (also less commonly spelled ''filagree'', and formerly written ''filigrann'' or ''filigrene'') is a form of intricate metalwork used in jewellery and other small forms of metalwork. In jewellery, it is usually of gold and silver, ma ...

work decorates the top and bottom surfaces of the flat central indentation. In the middle of the bowl, on the top surface of the indentation, stands a long-necked dog-like animal, with blue glass eyes, tall enough to peer over the rim of the bowl; around it are arranged four small projecting animals heads. Semi-precious stones are also mounted inside the bowl. Equally spaced around the rim are four animal heads as the tops of loop escutcheons that extend down the sides of the bowl, held on with rivets and decorated with

millefiori Millefiori () is a glasswork technique which produces distinctive decorative patterns on glassware. The term millefiori is a combination of the Italian words "mille" (thousand) and "fiori" (flowers). Apsley Pellatt in his book ''Curiosities of ...

panels, terminating with small projecting human heads below the bowl. The loop escutcheons would allow the bowl to be suspended. There is a deep groove around the outside of the bowl, below the rim. The bowl may have been used to contain water, but, like other hanging bowls, its intended function is not certainly known. It has been compared to the 8th century Ormside bowl. The filigree decoration resembles the

Kirkoswald brooch Kirkoswald may refer to: * Kirkoswald, Cumbria, a civil parish and village in the District of Eden, England * Kirkoswald, South Ayrshire, a village in South Ayrshire council area, Scotland {{geodis