Coins, Tokens, Historical Medals and Antiquities

Medieval, Romanesque silver-gilt Brooch, late 12th-13th cent., 2.5cm x 2cm, cast in openwork form in high relief with a nude male figure standing over a plant with scroll-like tendril leaves. Right arm missing, otherwise very fine and with the gilding almost complete £300-£400

Provenance: From a UK private collection.

This may originally have been a buckle plate with a companion which featured Eve, and was converted to a brooch when that was lost. Comparison with illuminated manuscripts suggests that the figure is Adam in the garden of Eden