Bow Brooch
Unknown Artist
ca. 650–750
Medium
Copper alloy
Dimensions
Overall: 1 5/8 x 11/16 x 1/2 in. (4.1 x 1.7 x 1.3 cm)
Classification
Metalwork-Copper alloy
Culture
Frankish
Department
Medieval Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917
Accession Number
17.191.294
Art Historical Context
This delicate **Bow Brooch**, crafted by an unknown Frankish artisan around 650–750 CE, the exquisite metalwork of early medieval Europe. Measuring just 1 5/8 x 11/16 x 1/2 inches, this copper alloy fastener—shaped like a bowed arch—was not merely functional but a symbol of status. Worn to secure cloaks or tunics, bow brooches like this one were essential accessories among the Franks, a Germanic people who dominated much of western Europe during the Merovingian and early Carolingian eras. Frankish metalworkers excelled in working copper alloys, often casting and hammering the metal into intri...