Asian and European Art
Confronted-animal motifs are found extensively in Asian art and in textiles, including rugs, across Eurasia. In Europe they are an important motif in animal style, or zoomorphic decoration, Insular art, and the Romanesque. In these contexts there may be little or nothing between the two animals, and the emphasis is on the pair themselves. Human figures are often treated in the same way, often mixed in with animals in decorative schemes - archers were especially popular in the Romanesque period.
The early Anglo-Saxon ship burial found in contemporary Great Britain at Sutton Hoo, from the seventh century AD, contains famous examples of Migration Period art.
The Sutton Hoo purse lid has three stylized confronted-animal pairs; the two side pairs, left and right, are identical, and have the animals in the person's clutched grasp. The central confronted animals are even more complex in theme.
Supporters in heraldry, not always a matched pair, continue the theme.
Read more about this topic: Confronted Animals, Examples From Archaeology
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