Disk Brooch
Unknown Artist
500–700
Medium
Copper alloy coated with gold foil, glass paste
Dimensions
Overall: 1 1/16 x 1/2 in. (2.7 x 1.2 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
17.192.76
Art Historical Context
This exquisite Disk Brooch, crafted by an unknown Frankish artisan between 500 and 700 CE, exemplifies the refined metalwork of the early Medieval period. Hailing from the Merovingian era, when the Franks dominated much of Western Europe, these small adornments—measuring just 1 1/16 x 1/2 inches—served as practical fasteners for cloaks or garments while signaling social status. Now housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Medieval Art Department, it was generously gifted by J. Pierpont Morgan in 1917. The brooch's medium of copper alloy coated with gold foil, accented by colorful glass past...