6th-8th century AD. A matched pair of Dnieper Culture bow brooches, each a headplate with flanking profile animal-heads, a slender D-section bow, vesica-shaped footplate with bird-head lappets and mask to the finial; pin-lug and catch to the reverse. Cf. Szmoniewski, B.S. Byzantium and the Slavs in the Light of Goldsmiths' Production in Entwistle, C. & Adams, N. Intelligible Beauty, Recent Research into Byzantine Jewellery, London, 2010, plate 4 for further examples of the type, showing the development of the anthro-zoomorphic style. 15 grams total, 58mm each (2 1/4"). Private collection, Cambridgeshire, UK; acquired prior to 2000. [2, No Reserve]