Details

LOT 0325

Viking Age Silver Cross Pendant with Head of a Beast

11TH-12TH CENTURY A.D.

1 5/8 in (7.88 grams, 40 mm).

In Romanesque style, cruciform with openwork cross at centre, three oval terminals and a fourth modelled as a hound's head, the beast's mouth forming the suspension loop. [No Reserve]

Provenance

Acquired on the UK art market.
Property of an East Anglian private collector.
This lot is accompanied by an illustrated lot declaration signed by the Head of the Antiquities Department, Dr Raffaele D'Amato.

Literature

Cf. Graham-Campbell, J. & Kidd, D., The Vikings, London, 1980, item 45, for similar silver pendant from Foss, Iceland; cf. Weidenfeld and Nicolson ed., English Romanesque Art 1066-1200, Hayward Gallery, London, 1984, 248-254; cf. TimeLine Auctions 21/2/17, lot 400, for similar.

Footnotes

The original function of this rare and unusual pendant remains elusive. The use of expensive materials and the fine and detailed casting indicate that it would have been a highly prized object. The fusion of Christian and pagan religious motifs is typical of Iceland where the worship of the old gods continued into the 11th century. The Christian cross was used as a symbol of the new faith but the pendant also includes elements of pre-Christian motifs. Comparable objects appeared in an exhibition of English Romanesque Art 1066-1200, held at the Hayward Gallery, London, 5 April - 8 July 1984. The catalogue for this exhibition illustrates numerous small metal and gilded articles with similar grotesque terminals- No. 254 illustrated a late 12th century finial from a shrine, which is in the Victoria and Albert Museum (M.25 1962).