Sutton Hoo items at the British Museum -- myArmoury.com

Nathan Robinson · myArmoury Admin

I was recently fortunate enough to take a trip to London. On my visit, I spent a good deal of time at the British Museum. While there, I marveled at the display of the Sutton Hoo Ship Burial items. The glare of the glass display case was quite strong, even while standing and viewing it in person. Often, I had to put my face directly on the glass and block the light with my hands to avoid the glare. Having said that, here are some photos I was able to snap while there. Included are the captions directly from the British Museum.

Iron Sword with Jewelled Fittings
- Iron blade rusted into a fleece-lined, wooden scabbard, bound at the mouth with narrow tape
MME 1939,1010.95
-Gold Pommel of cocked-hat form, set with cloisonné garnets
MME 1939,1010.19
- Gold sheet fittings covering the cross guards at the upper and lower end of the hand grip
MME 1939,1010.20-23
- Gold filigree clips, originally tacked to the hand-grip with short gold nails
MME 1939,1010.24,25

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Click a photo for full-sized version

Helmet
The helmet is made of iron covered with panels of tinned bronze sheet. These are stamped with animals and figures. The crest is inlaid with silver wire and has dragon heads at each end. The bronze eyebrows are also inlaid in gilded boars' heads. Garnets line the underside of each eyebrow. Holes drilled in the nose allowed the wearer to breathe.
MME 1939,1010.93

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Patrick Kelly · Posted: Thu 08 Sep, 2005 10:50 am Post subject:

Thanks Nathan!

Look at the precision work involved in inlaying the garnets into their gold mountings. Cool stuff!

Pamela Muir · Posted: Thu 08 Sep, 2005 11:28 am Post subject: Sutton Hoo Helmet

Hi Nathan,
Thank you for thinking about all of us on your vacation and bringing back pictures to share!

I especially love the garnet eyes on the dragons. (I'm a girl, I can't resist jewels. Big Grin

)

Patrik Erik Lars Lindblom · Posted: Thu 08 Sep, 2005 11:51 am Post subject:

Big Thanks Nathan!
Thats was new's for me, about the hole in nose and other small detail's,
I have always believed that there was a hole below the "moustache", i have never seen this before,
great photos! Cool

Thomas Hoogendam · Posted: Thu 08 Sep, 2005 11:53 am Post subject:

Hey Nathan. Thanks for the fantastic photo's, I think these are the best I've seen of the Sutton Hoo sword. Marvelous workmanship.

Thomas McDonald · myArmoury Alumni

Wonderful job, Nathan !

I've battled that demon museum glass many a day so I know all too well how hard it is, it is to your credit as a photographer that you've succeeded in taking some truly brilliant snaps !

Many thanks, Mac

Paul Mortimer · Posted: Thu 08 Sep, 2005 12:55 pm Post subject:

Hi Nathan,
The museum is good and hasome particularly valuable displays. Did you make out to Sutton Hoo itself? Fantastic place -- I was there last Sunday -- it never loses its attraction for me.

Paul

Kirk Lee Spencer · Posted: Thu 08 Sep, 2005 1:00 pm Post subject:

Amazing camera work Nathan. Thanks for the pics.

Any hints on how you got such great closeups through the glare in a dark setting?

thanks

ks

Nathan Robinson · myArmoury Admin

Thank you for the kind words. I unfortunately didn't make it to the Sutton Hoo burial site but kept the scope of the trip to museums and the like.

As far as the photos go, I was a bit disapointed with the quality of them as well as the conditions in which I had to shoot them. The display cases on many of these things are often extremely prone to glare. The lighting in the rooms is often very directional and adds to the glare problem. I can fully understand the need for dim lighting in many of these situations, but the directional, non-diffused nature of the lights and choice of glass was annoying, at best.

Because these places do not allow even for a monopod (sigh!), I shot most stuff at a high sensitify (as high as 800 ISO) to reduce shutter speed and braced myself as much as possible to minimize camera shake. Even with this, the ability to get a shot in focus without motion blur was hit and miss. The lighting issue is made further difficult by the desire to have a small aperature to reduce depth of field (to get a large range of focus) since that closes the lens up and allows less light in.

It's always a balancing act: reduction of shutter speed vs. trying to get enough light in vs. the need to control grain and noise.

Hisham Gaballa · Posted: Sat 10 Sep, 2005 3:28 am Post subject:

Great pics Nathan, You've done quite well with those photos, I've also struggled with museum glass, with very mixed results. I have fantasies that one day museums will start using non-reflective glass. Big Grin

I was in London last weekend, but I didn't get a chance to go to the British Museum. I did manage to get to the Victoria and Albert Museum, only to discover to my dismay that their arms and armour collection has been placed in storage indefinitely.

Nathan Robinson · myArmoury Admin

Felix Wang · Posted: Mon 12 Sep, 2005 1:25 pm Post subject:

J. Padgett · Posted: Mon 12 Sep, 2005 5:38 pm Post subject:

Fantastic pictures as always, Nathan. The pommel of the sword is particularly beautiful.

Jeroen Zuiderwijk · Industry Professional

I've just visited the British Museum again as well, and took the chance to make as many photos of the Sutton Hoo finds and other early medieval finds as possible. For those interested, they can be found here:
http://1500bc.com/bronze_sword_festival_2005/...ish_museum

And there's more photos from my previous visits to the British Museum, which can be found here:
http://1500bc.com/british_museum/index.html