Merovingian Rosette Brooch

Replica of an Alemannic rosette fibula.

This beautiful medieval rosette brooch was made along the lines of a Merovingian pair of almandine disc brooches of Grave 511 from the cemetery of Weingarten.

The historic original rosette fibula, also known as amaldine disc brooch, was made in southern Germany and dated to the Merovingian period of the 6th century.

This Merovingian rosette brooch is made in high quality bronze and is also available in silver plated.
The dimensions of the almandine disc brooch are 2 x 0.7 cm.

In contrast to the original almandine disc brooch by cost reasons this fibula is not provided with genuine Amaldinen-Cloisonne but only with red and white glass enamel.

On the back of the rosette brooch there is a stable needle with spiral spring, which gives the needle the necessary tension.

The Almandines of the original rosette fibula from Weingarten were dark red gems that probably once came from Sri Lanka and then were brought during the Merovingian period to Europe. Here the Amaldinen were further processed into jewelry of Frankish or Alemannic craftsmen

The original of that almandine disc brooch is shown today in the collection of the Alamannic Museum of Weingarten.

In the 6th century belonged almandine disc brooches, colloquially known as rosette fibulas, to the costume of the wealthy, Alamannic woman.
The rosette brooch closed worn in pairs the top of the garb in combination with a further bow fibula pair for the lower part of the clothing - this is called the Merovingian Four fibula costume, which was widespread in Franconia, Alemanni and other Germanic tribes of the early Middle Ages.

In the technique of cloisonné small pieces of glass or gemstone are inserted into a previously applied cells of metal on a checkered sheet of gold.
The oldest evidence of the cell fusion technique of cloisonne is from India - they date already  to the 3rd millennium BC.
From here the technique of cloisonne was brought to the Middle East and to Egypt, from where during the pre-Roman Iron Age Cloisonné spread to Europe.
In the 2nd century AD the technic of Cloisonné changed and it was modern now to use red garnets, called Amaldines for this cloisonné technique instead of the glass.
From here, this new technology came during the migration period and the barbarian invasions into the West between the 4th and 5th century.
Still Cloisonné was used primarily for designing brooches, but also belt buckles and scabbard fittings were made in this style.
In the 7th century the typical Cloisonné was not longer used by the Germanic tribes and were at last spread only in the far north and in the Byzantine area until it finally disappeared in the 9th century.