The British Museum

Harness-fitting Iron Age 35024 Circles Photoframe 5R, 23.5cm x 18.5cm

35024

Discovered at Somme-Bionne,

France, this fitting once ornamented a chariot or horse harness. It was buried in the grave of a powerful warrior who was laid to rest in a two-wheeled chariot.

Harness-fitting, Iron Age, 450 - 300 BC, Somme-Bionne chariot burial, France, British Museum ML.1369

The complex openwork design has been constructed from intersecting compass-drawn circles and arcs. It features a central setting surrounded by four circles linked by sickle-shapes. The openwork sections are outlined with fine lines and lines of dots.

The intricacy of the geometric interlacing patterns is reproduced on the borders of a photoframe.

A N C I E N T T R E A S U R E S

A N C I E N T T R E A S U R E S