Pliezhausen rider's disc
The Pliezhausen rider's disc is a figuratively decorated sheet gold disc that was found in 1928 during excavations in Pliezhausen , Reutlingen district , in a wealthy Alemannic woman's grave from the early 7th century as the face of a disc brooch. It is one of the few objects from the early Middle Ages that show figurative representations of people.
Find
During construction work in the area of Pliezhauser Alemannenstraße, graves of an Alemannic burial ground repeatedly came to light. During the excavation of the wealthy women's burial known as grave 1 in 1928, the Pliezhausen rider's disc was found as a grave object. The disc, made of thin sheet gold, served as a decorative overlay for a disc brooch with a bronze needle apparatus. Other additions were a bronze ring, fragments of bronze wire and 13 pearls .
The rider's disc is exhibited in the Württemberg State Museum in the Old Castle in Stuttgart .
description
The Pliezhausen rider's disc has a diameter of about 69 mm and is made of thin gold sheet. The motif was pressed into the sheet metal using a model ; the outside of the disc has a pearly rim all around.
In the upper section of the disc, two four-footed animals jumping at each other with their mouths open are shown. Both animals are strongly stylized, they are interpreted as lions because of their pronounced neck mane.
Below is a warrior riding to the right, who is holding a lance in his left hand . The long-haired rider is dressed in a caftan and holds a small round shield in his right hand . Behind the rider, also on the horse's back, a small human figure is depicted, who also wields the rider's spear with her left hand and a small round shield in her right hand; the figure is interpreted as a victory helper . The horse is bridled and harnessed. In front of and under the horse, a stumbling warrior is being overrun by it. The defeated warrior grabs the reins of the horse with his right hand and thrusts his spathe (sword) into the chest of the animal with his left hand . The knot of the warrior with the horse's front extremities is remarkable.
More detailed investigations in the Roman-Germanic Central Museum in Mainz showed that the disc originally had a larger diameter, as a previously existing, circumferential groove was partially trimmed in order to be able to mount the disc on the carrier plate of the disc brooch. Comparative finds suggest that the disc was originally mounted on a belt distributor ( phalerae ) of a representative harness for a riding horse and was only reworked into the face of a decorative brooch when it was used a second time.
Comparable motifs
Several comparative finds from the early Middle Ages have come down to the motif of the Pliezhausen rider's disc, such as the rich ship graves of Sutton Hoo in England and Vendel and Valsgärde in Sweden . With the exception of the mirror-inverted arrangement, the Sutton Hoo disc corresponds most precisely to the Pliezhausen disc. It is one of the few naturalistic and figurative representations that have come down to us from the early Middle Ages and provides valuable information on the mythical and religious ideas of the pagan Alemanni at the transition to Christianity .
literature
- Günther Haseloff : Art styles of the early Middle Ages - Migration and Merovingian times depicted on finds from the Württemberg State Museum in Stuttgart. Württembergisches Landesmuseum, Stuttgart 1979.
- Kurt Böhner : The Pliezhausen gold disc . In: Municipality of Pliezhausen (ed.): 900 years of Pliezhausen 1092-1992 - home between Neckar and Schönbuch . Pliezhausen community 1992.
- Kurt Böhner, Dieter Quast: The Merovingian grave finds from Pliezhausen, district of Reutlingen. In: Find reports from Baden-Württemberg 19, 1, 1994, pp. 383-419.