Image and Performance, Agency and Ideology:
Human Figurative Representation in Anglo-Saxon Funerary Art,
AD 400 – 750

Abstract

This thesis investigates the topic of human imagery and hybrid human imagery rendered on metalwork of early Anglo-Saxon date recovered within eastern England. It presents the first definitive catalogue of its kind in this region and timeframe. Taking inspiration from recent transitions in thinking on early Anglo-Saxon art, the major topics of consideration include: a) the interrelationship between image, object and the user, b) the changing portrayal of human representation and the social implications of such developments and c) the emergence of new bodily gestures in representational art. These key themes might provide an understanding of how and why human imagery changed as it did, how and by whom it was deployed in life and death and the role this type of imagery performed in the construction and presentation of social identity.