Belt

Silver-gilt bird appliqué. It has a curved predator's beak, square head frame, round eye underlined, curving neck outlined and filled with hatched grooves, squared tail with vertical grooving. The outer border finishes in a spiral at the base of the neck. The leg has a pear-shaped hip, outlined, and a 4-clawed foot. The whole has been gilded and the grooves wereoriginally filled with niello, of which little survives. Openwork panel between neck and leg. Behind the hip-joint there is a single shank 2.5mm long, which once served to rivet the bird to perhaps a belt or sword sheath.