Viking Age Bronze Pendant with Cross

Openwork plate brooch or mount with two pierced lugs to the reverse depicting a rider and standing figure; the horse and figures shown in profile; the rider wearing baggy trousers and a cloak or mantle, a spear carried beneath his leg, his hair worn long and knotted at the rear; the standing figure wearing a floor-length robe and holing a shield; square panel beneath the horse with a grid of nine squares. 6.3 grams, 34 mm



Found near Great Massingham, Norfolk, UK, circa 2010.

The scene depicted on the mount or brooch is often assumed to represent an armed warrior on horseback and a Valkyrie holding a shield. However, the rider's long and looped hairstyle may be typical of females of the period, and the standing figure often appears to be wearing a helmet. In a detailed discussion by Gardeła, Pentz and Price (2022), the standard interpretation is challenged since we do not know whether the scene shows humans or deities, nor whether the rider and attendant might be interpreted as an armed female being welcomed into Freyja's home of Folkvangr. Does the grid beneath the horse imply that there is a gaming-board available to the rider, a typical item of hall-based enjoyment alongside the horn which symbolises beer or mead? Or does this actually show a saddle-cloth, a prosaic piece of riding equipment?

With hooked 'beak', large discoid eyes with ribbed frame, three sewing loops to the upper edge. 4.9 grams, 31 mm



Acquired on the German art market before 2000. From an old Munich collection.

With central dome and upturned ends, ribbed and textured detailing to the obverse, catch and pin-lugs to the reverse. 109 grams total, 78-84 mm



From the collection of a North American gentleman, formed in the 1990s.

Equal-armed bronze brooches of this category were found in various graves of Birka’s cemeteries (graves 444, 603, 535, 551, 577 and 483). They were all female graves and these clasps were used to fasten the cloaks in the upper part of the dress.