Fig. 462.
Drinking-cups were sometimes of wood. Of these, two examples are here given. The first of these has a rim of brass, the second a like rim attached by overlapping bands. It has also a number of small bands of the same metal riveted on to mend cracks in the wood. They were found in a barrow on Sibertswold Down, in Kent.
Fig. 463.
Fig. 464.
Bowls of bronze are occasionally also found. Some of these are plain, others enamelled or otherwise ornamented, and others, again, gilt. Many of them appear from their form to have been of Roman origin. Some remarkably fine examples have been yielded by the graves of Kent and other districts. The one here engraved ([fig. 465]) was found at Over-Haddon, in Derbyshire, along with the remains of a circular enamelled disc of the kind described on a previous page, and other relics. The bowl was seven inches in diameter, and had originally two handles. They are supposed to have been used for placing hot meats in, on the table. They range in size from four or five to twelve or fourteen inches in diameter.
Fig. 465.
Small boxes of bronze are occasionally found, and are of different forms. Some are plain upright boxes with lids, just intended to hold sewing materials—in fact, the work-boxes of the Saxon ladies—and others are rather large, and have been intended to contain the comb, etc.: they are, therefore, a kind of dressing-cases. The box engraved on [fig. 466] was found along with other Saxon remains near Church Sterndale. The grave, which was cut in the rock, contained a skeleton of a woman; the lower bones were fairly preserved, but of the upper parts there were but few remains, the enamel crowns of the teeth being in the best condition. “At the left hip was a small iron knife four inches long, and where the right shoulder had been was an assemblage of curious articles, the most important of which was a small bronze box or canister, with a lid to slide on, measuring altogether two inches high, and the same in diameter. When found, it was much crushed, but still retained, inside, remains of thread, and bore on the outside impressions of linen cloth. Close to it were two bronze pins or broken needles, and a mass of corroded iron, some of which has been wire chainwork connected with a small bronze ornament with five perforations, plated with silver, and engraved with a cable pattern, near which were two iron implements of larger size, the whole comprising the girdle and châtelaine, with appendages, of a Saxon lady. Many pieces of hazel stick were found in contact with these relics, which were probably the remains of a basket in which they were placed at the funeral. All the iron shows impressions of woven fabrics, three varieties being distinguishable; namely, coarse and fine linen, and coarse flannel or woollen cloth. The box is very faintly ornamented by lozenges, produced by the intersection of oblique lines scratched in the metal.”