Merovingian-Frankish 6th Century

Wheel-Shaped Brooch

Lady Cailleach Dhe ingen Chiarain

MKA Karyn L Driscoll

220249@members.eastkingdom.org

January 7, 2021

Extent Brooch: About

This particular brooch is held by the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, and was found in a grave in Northern France; Stanislas Baron, Paris (Met). It is 7/8ths of an inch in width, and one-quarter inch in depth (Met). It is believed to have belonged to a woman of high-status, as Sartorial laws only permitted women of high ranking to wear such things (ClevelandArt). This was found as a single brooch, thought to be functional dress or clothing fasteners along with a single brooch for decorative purposes.

The woman who was buried at Bréban, went to the grave in all her finery in the

pagan fashion. Her jewellery consists of: a pair of gold earrings inlaid with garnets

and glass; a pair of gilded copper-alloy radiate-headed brooches, with garnet inlays

and friezes of bird heads (found at the woman's waist); a pair of gilded silver

quatrefoil brooches; a single gilded silver and garnet disc brooch found on her

chest; amber beads, which were worn at the neck; and a bracelet of glass beads,

from her left wrist; and a hairpin, jet ring, buckle and silver cosmetic implement.

At the woman's feet were the iron hoops and handle from a wooden bucket and

an iron spade-end. (MerovingianDynasty)

A brooch such as this, with a flat back, may have molded a simple round of silver, then cut and filed to a circular disc shape. The finishing details of the spokes were made in relief, using a sharp-edged metal tool, called a graver (Britannica). The red background is a foil with crushed glass that was ground into a fine

powder, then mixed with metal oxides to create different colors. That concoction was then

mixed with an adhesive and melted over a flame or in a furnace allowing it to fill and remain

in the divots created in the metal. This brooch also has a garnet in the center, which may

have been first affixed with an adhesive, and the image (Met) shows evidence of a gemstone

secured with a bezel setting technique that was commonly used during this time period (Britannica).

Reproduction: About

After I completed my Frankish Whorl brooch in October, I found that I absolutely love working with this medium. I am typically prone to acts of service in our Kingdom rather than showcasing my art, but I found that I wanted to dive right into this next project. I looked into the history of the time period, the clothing and the culture of the other brooch and found this disk brooch. I was fascinated at how so very long ago, the people were able to conceptualize and create jewelry with such advanced techniques as enameling, cloisonné techniques, gilding, glass paste, foil backed stones, filigree and such detail!

My purpose for this brooch is to adapt it to echo our East Kingdom's Order of the Silver Wheel medallion. The first one cast is to be given to my partner in life, who is so very deserved of the honor of being inducted into the order. I will be donating others to the Kingdom to be given to other Silver Wheel inductees.

As part of this Merovingian exploration, I am creating an ensemble of proposed clothing that a Lady would have worn in that time and place, which will include a Wheel brooch (both decorative, functional, and to be worn as a member of the EK Order) and a quatrefoil Whorl brooch (de Ricci), per a grave find in Bréban, Marne, France (MerovingianDynasty). I will be attempting to create the bow brooches from this grave as a future project. Unfortunately, there is not much in the way of extent clothing from this era, so much will be conjecture based on a woman buried at the Barbares Grave 12, or that of Arnegunde, a Merovingian Queen. This ambitious project will be displayed in full, at a later time.

My Process:

I decided to sculpt a slightly larger piece than the 1-inch wide extent brooch for Kingdom award medallions, and a smaller one, closer in size to the extent find. I began by using soft Sculpey clay, rolled it to a uniform thickness. I then took a circular stencil and traced the outer edge with an Exacto blade to create the back of the brooch. I then used the same blade to create another layer that had the spokes of the wheel raised, using a photo of the extent brooch as my guide. This will provide me with the depth for the “glass” to sit in. I also created an indentation for my "garnet" to sit in. It is a flat-backed Swarovski crystal to match the colors of the "glass".

Before molding, I heat the clay to harden it so it doesn't lose its shape. Once hardened, I used metal files to shape and round the edges of the clay, and make sure there are no undercuts in the piece that would get stuck in the molding and casting process.

Once happy with my design, I mixed the two parts of MoldMax 60 silicone together and poured them over my clay to make a mold. Unlike my first project, for this I have created a two-piece mold, with a sprue (or funnel) cut in to allow for the pewter to enter in and fill my design. It is more time consuming, with each half of the mold being created separately, but it allows for a more consistent shape and size of the finished brooch.

After allowing the silicone to cure, I used an electric casting furnace to melt pewter and used a dipper tool to gently pour the metal into the mold. Once cooled, I was able to easily pop the finished brooch out and add a pin or necklace bail to the back using a quick-drying water-proof glue. My “glass” is an oil-based pearlescent enamel paint applied with a paint brush and allowed to dry.

The first round of casting could not have been better! Both sizes produced with very little flash, and were nearly as clean as they could be with only minor buffing and shining required.

While I recognize that how I created these brooches is not period, it continues to be a great learning experience. It is my pleasure to donate a number of these medallions to our Kingdom's largess.

I would like to further my knowledge and experience and recreate this piece using wax, gravers and casting into delft clay, or by carving soapstone and melting fine silver in a crucible over flame to align closer to the period methods.

What I used:

R98 pewter alloy
Electrical casting furnace
Sculpey firm oven-bake clay
Exacto blade, metal files, Dremel tool
MoldMax 60 Silicone
Pebeo oil-based paint
Swarovski 5mm flat-back crystal
Fibula-style brooch back of aluminum wire (extent)
Glue-on bail (medallion)
Water-proof all-purpose glue

References:

https://www.britannica.com/art/jewelry/Metalwork#ref14072

https://www.clevelandart.org/magazine/cleveland-art-2010-highlights/movable-pieces

http://www.merovingiandynasty.org/details.php?id=dynasty_ralics

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/464840?rpp=20&pg=6&ao=on&ft=frankish&pos=105

https://www.sca.org/awards/east.html

Ricci, Seymour de. Catalogue of a Collection of Merovingian Antiquities Belonging to J. Pierpont Morgan. Paris: C. Berger, 1910. no. 172, p. 38, pl. VI.