clasp plates

Ind. no. 102: Two equally sized clasp plates of cast bronze. Both plates are rectangular with a pointed end on the outer extreme and tubular protrusions for accommodating a pin fastener on the inner. Recesses of the decorated surface are filled with enamel. Similar stylised floral patterns adorn both plates. One has three holes, while on the reverse side of both there is a nailed sheet bar and three nails near the joint. A comparable clasp with an additional central element comes from an old collection of the Cyprus Museum (Pierides 1980, pl. LVI:c), and another similar example is preserved in the Leventis Municipal Museum of Nicosia (Rizopoulou-Egoumenidou and Loizou-Hadjigavriel 2003, 77). Identical examples are also found in the Balkans (see for example an identical clasp of the 18th/19th century from western Bulgaria in Blagoëva 1997, 66, fig. 23). Dimensions: 9 x 6 cm.