Sutton Hoo and Europe, AD 300–1100

The gold buckle from Sutton Hoo draws you close to its worked surface. It belonged to the extraordinary group of objects found in a ship burial in Suffolk, where wealth and connections gathered around the person buried there. Room 41 follows Europe from AD 300 to 1100. Byzantine, Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian material brings several regions into view. The Sutton Hoo objects are part of those wider networks, alongside works such as the Franks Casket and the Lycurgus Cup. The cup offers a very different use of material from the buckle. Its glass changes between green and red under different lighting, with figures cut around the vessel. Gold, glass and carved surfaces reward different distances of looking. Begin with one object’s workmanship, then use the other displays to see how far materials and forms could travel.