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Enamelled Fibulae

Introduction

Enamel was used to decorate many Roman provincial fibula types from the mid-2nd to the early 3rd century AD.  However, enamel was also used on pre-Roman fibula.  Its use on fibulae is in fact a Celtic invention and its use in Roman times stems from the traditions of Romanized Celtic populations.

 

Enamel is a coloured crystalline glass-like substance used as decoration on metal objects.  It is made by applying a paste or coarse powder to indentations in a metal object which is then heated (to temperatures in the 650 - 700° C range) to melt and fuse the paste or powder into the glass-like enamel.  In Roman times enamel was used only on copper-alloys, mainly bronze though sometimes brass/orichalcum or high-tin "white metal".  Enamel was not used on silver or iron fibulae.

 

Enamel comes in many colours and can range from fully opaque to fairly transparent.   As in glass-making, different colours were made with the use of powdered metals and metal-oxides.  The following colours were used in Roman times:


- brick red,

- dark red,

- orange,

- light blue,

- dark blue,

- green,

- bright yellow,

- white, and

- black.


However, today many enamels have faded and even changed colour.  Many have taken on a yellow-brown tone.

 

 

History of the Use of Enamel on Fibulae

Precious stones, amber and coral were used to decorate some Iron Age fibula.  However, the use of enamel appears to have begun in the early or middle La Tene period when enamel was sometimes used along with coral on fibulae.  In the late La Tene period coral use had disappeared and enamel use was common.   During the La Tene period enamel was generally used in fairly small indented panels. 

 

Exner (1941) thought that enamel use on fibulae had died out on the continent by the end of the 1st century BC and it was therefore in Britain that the art was retained until the 2nd century AD when it spread to the Roman provinces of the lower and middle Rhine.

 

The use of enamel on Roman fibulae remained centred on the Rhine, though workshops are known in Britain and as far as Pannonia.  Roman enamelled fibulae are found in small numbers throughout the Roman Empire and as far beyond as Scandinavia.  However any examples found outside the Britain – Rhine – upper Danube region were imports from these areas.

 

Enamel was used on three kinds of Roman fibula:


bow fibula,

- equilateral fibula, and

- plate, or disc, fibula.

 


Enamelled Bow Fibulae

There are two broad types of enamelled bow fibula.  The first (bow fibula with enamel pieces) have a bow mostly, or entirely, decorated with many small recesses filled with enamel.  These fibulae are the earliest and dating to the first ½ of the 2nd century AD. The second (bow fibula with enamelled plate) have one, or rarely more than one, plate with enamel work while the bow proper is plain metal.  These fibulae date to the mid to late 2nd century AD and are often found with Knee fibula (especially the type with large semi-circular head-plate).  The foot of both of these types often has an animal-head motif. 

 

Link to Enamelled Bow Fibula page.


Enamelled Equilateral Fibulae

These fibulae have a central plate, which is sometimes arched into a short bow form, with matching extensions at each end.  One of these extensions covers the hinge while the one at the opposite end covers the catch.  Enamel is usually limited to the central plate (or bow).  These fibulae are slightly later than the enamelled bow fibula and date from the 2nd ½ of the 2nd century to the early 3rd century AD. 


Link to Enamel Equilateral Fibula page.


Enamelled Plate, or Disc, Fibulae

These fibula consist of a plate partially, or more rarely entirely, covered with enamel.   They come in a wide variety of shapes.  Sub-groups include plates with enamel in an animal design, open-work plates with enamel, plates with millefiori glass inlay, and tutulus fibula with enamel.  These fibulae date from the 2nd ¼ of the 2nd century to the early 3rd century AD.  However, plate fibula with millefiori glasswork date from the early 3rd century AD.

 

Link to Enamel Plate Fibula page.


Distribution

Roman enamel fibulae are found in military camps, canabae, and civilian settlements.  Grave evidence has shown that many were used by women, though they were also used by men too.  They were clearly popular with the military community in its full sense.  Some enamelled bow fibula could have been used to secure cloaks.  However many are too small for this and were either used to secure other items of clothing (dresses, tunics, shirts, etc.) or purely for decoration.

 

Enamelled fibulae were made in workshops that also made enamelled belt fittings as well as items such as rings and spoons. 

 



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