7th-9th century A.D. A silver-gilt belt mount, formed as a square plaque decorated in repoussé with two facing ducks within a tondo, pearled edge and a triangular plate decorated with volutes. See similar style in art decoration and belt elements from Bulgaria and South Crimea, in Inkova, M., 'Duck Image on a Gilt Silver Strap End: on Diffused Motifs of the Early Medieval Bulgarian Culture' in Archaeologia Bulgarica, Sofia, 2003, 1, pp.83-96, figs. in pl.V. 2.42 grams, 48 mm wide (2 in.). Collection formed in the 2000s. Property of an English gentleman. The theme of the duck, inherited by the Romans from the Sassanian art (wallpainting in Eastern Turkestan, reliefs at Taq-i-Bustan, see Inkova, 2003, p.91) was widely used in the belt mounts of the Eastern Roman Empire, especially from the 7th to the 9th century AD (belts from Syria and from the Necropolis of Skalistoe, South Crimea). Its use in the Imperial Court of Constantinople strongly influenced that of the Empire’s neighbours, like the Bulgarian Court at Preslav. [No Reserve]