<P> Sutton Hoo is a cornerstone of the study of art in Britain in the 6th--9th centuries . George Henderson has described the ship treasures as "the first proven hothouse for the incubation of the Insular style". The gold and garnet fittings show the creative fusion of earlier techniques and motifs by a master goldsmith . Insular art drew upon Irish, Pictish, Anglo - Saxon, native British and Mediterranean artistic sources: the 7th - century Book of Durrow owes as much to Pictish sculpture, British millefiori and enamelwork and Anglo - Saxon cloisonné metalwork as it does to Irish art . The Sutton Hoo treasures represent a continuum from pre-Christian royal accumulation of precious objects from diverse cultural sources, through to the art of gospel books, shrines and liturgical or dynastic objects . </P> <P> On the head's left side was placed a "crested" and masked helmet wrapped in cloths . With its panels of tinned bronze and assembled mounts, the decoration is directly comparable to that found on helmets from the Vendel and Valsgärde cemeteries of eastern Sweden . The Sutton Hoo helmet differs from the Swedish examples in having an iron skull of a single vaulted shell and has a full face mask, a solid neck guard and deep cheekpieces . These features have been used to suggest an English origin for the helmet's basic structure; the deep cheekpieces have parallels in the Coppergate helmet, found in York . Although outwardly very like the Swedish examples, the Sutton Hoo helmet is a product of better craftsmanship . Helmets are extremely rare finds . No other such figural plaques were known in England, apart from a fragment from a burial at Caenby, Lincolnshire, until the 2009 discovery of the Staffordshire hoard, which contained many . The helmet rusted in the grave and was shattered into hundreds of tiny fragments when the chamber roof collapsed . Restoration of the helmet thus involved the meticulous identification, grouping and orientation of the surviving fragments before it could be reconstructed . </P> <P> To the head's right was placed inverted a nested set of ten silver bowls, probably made in the Eastern Empire during the sixth century . Beneath them were two silver spoons, possibly from Byzantium, of a type bearing names of the Apostles . One spoon is marked in original nielloed Greek lettering with the name of PAULOS, "Paul". The other, matching spoon has been modified using lettering conventions of a Frankish coin - die cutter, to read SAULOS, "Saul". One theory suggests that the spoons (and possibly also the bowls) were a baptismal gift for the buried person . </P> <P> On the right of the "body" lay a set of spears, tips uppermost, including three barbed angons, with their heads thrust through a handle of the bronze bowl . Nearby was a wand with a small mount depicting a wolf . Closer to the body lay the sword with a gold and garnet cloisonné pommel 85 centimetres (33 in) long, its pattern welded blade still within its scabbard, with superlative scabbard - bosses of domed cellwork and pyramidal mounts . Attached to this and lying toward the body was the sword harness and belt, fitted with a suite of gold mounts and strap - distributors of extremely intricate garnet cellwork ornament . </P>

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