5th-8th century AD. A set of Mordvin culture iron fittings for a shield including a central discoid plate with dentilled edge and crossed straps with conical bosses, rim bindings with attachment studs. Cf. Sedov, B.B. Finno-Ugri i Balti v Epokhi Srednevekovija, Moscow, 1987, plate XLV. 630 grams total, 57cm diameter (22 1/2"). Property of a Essex lady; formerly in a private collection since the 1980s. The Mordvinians are a Uralo-Finnic group residing on the upper Volga. A land called Mordia is recorded in Constantine VII's De administrando imperio in the 10th century, which may refer to the same people. Variants appear in later medieval European sources such as Merdas or Morduinos. In the Russian Primary Chronicle the ethnonym Mordva first appears in the 11th century AD but disappears after the Mongol invasion (12th century"). [No Reserve]

Fair condition. An extremely rare survival.