Disk Brooch
Unknown Artist
Garnets, worked in the cloisonné technique, featured prominently in the luxury jewelry of the Franks. Jewelers would solder small compartments arranged in geometric patterns onto the surface of a metal disk. In those cells, or cloisons, they would place a textured piece of gold foil, which would show through the thin translucent garnet that would then be set on top.
Credit: Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917
First half 6th century
Silver-gilt, garnets with patterned foil backings.
3.6 x 0.6 cm
17.191.38
Image and text © Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2019
Where you'll find this
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Permanent collection
