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Hanging bowl (detail)

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from St Ninian's Isle, Dunrossness, Shetland

Hanging bowl (detail)
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This silver hanging bowl with gilt mounts was found in a hoard containing 28 silver objects and part of the jaw of a porpoise, buried in a ruined chapel on St Ninian's Isle at Dunrossness on Shetland. The objects probably belonged to a Pictish chief.

This picture shows the inside of the bowl. At the bottom is an elaborate silver gilt mount (also known as an escutcheon), with a cast design of a procession of hatched animals in chip-carved technique. The inset in the centre boss is missing.

Hanging bowls were first made in Roman Britain, and were popular in Ireland, Scotland and the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms into the eighth century. They are usually of bronze, rather than silver, with elaborate mounts on the outside rim and bottom.

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