The Cloisonné Brooch fictionalized in my story was imagined after an actual brooch found while searching for the image I had in my head. My editor and I were combing through ancient finds online and on museum sites. When this image popped on screen, we both gasped. That’s it!
It’s not it, of course; my version is fiction. And, to be accurate, it’s the wrong era (believed to be crafted around 800 CE). The actual piece is called the Dorestad Brooch and is located in a museum in the Netherlands, Rijksmuseum van Oudheden.
What’s right about it is the methods and materials used in its creation are the same as those used by artisans who began working gold many centuries before the modern era.
The Dorestad Brooch has its own interesting story. Amazingly, it was discovered at the bottom of a well around 850, when the town was sacked during the Viking raids. It would be great fun to explore that fictionally, but that’s another story.
Similar to my story, the Dorestad could very well have played an important role in the spread of Christianity and could have been part of a church treasury.
The image was used by permission of Rijksmuseum van Oudheden. For more information about the brooch and the museum, you can follow this link, but be warned: The link opens a very deep and wide rabbit hole.