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LOT 0343
Viking Age Silver Gripping Beasts Pendant
10TH CENTURY A.D.
1 3/4 in. (12.4 grams, 43 mm).
Composed of an openwork discoid body with integral T-shaped tubular loop; raised gusseted rim enclosing a pair of S-shaped beasts with billetted bodies and comma-shaped tails, enmeshed gripping paws clutching the rim and their own bodies.
ProvenanceAcquired on the European art market in the 1990s.
Ex property of a German gentleman.
Cf. Graham-Campbell, J., Viking Art, London, 2013, item 98; cf. Korshun, V.E., Yazcheskye Priveski Drevnei Rusi X-XIV Vekov, Volume III, Moscow, 2013, items K.6.00-6.02.
FootnotesDespite the long period of overlap of Borre and Jellinge art styles, there are only few examples of their fusion. The principal and most popular motif of the Borre style displays an animal with gripping paws, usually enmeshed in a circular frame, while a typical Jellinge style beast is more slender with long, S-shaped body and ribbon decoration. The most famous example of a pendant featuring a fusion of these styles was found in a hoard from Vårby (Sweden), formed as a circle with a pair of Jellinge-style beasts with ribbon-shaped bodies in profile and heads with open jaws and extended tongues; however, each is provided with gripping paws and an enmeshed body, which are typical features of the Borre style. A few examples of these pendants were also found near the important trading settlement of Gnezdovo, near Smolensk, Russia.
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LOT 0343
Viking Age Silver Gripping Beasts Pendant
Estimate £1,800 - 2,400€2,090 - 2,780 (for guidance only)$2,430 - 3,240 (for guidance only)
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Viking Age Bronze Decorated Bracelet
9th-11th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £520
With penannular hoop with tapering arms, cross motif composed of three horizontal and three vertical notched ribs, carinated arms. 63.8 grams, 71 mm
From the collection of a North American gentleman, formed in the 1990s.
Similar bracelets were found in pair on the remains of the left forearm bones of a female, in grave 83 of Hemlanden cemetery in Birka. These bracelets, as visible in this grave, were usually worn in pairs on both arms. -
Viking Age Bronze Pendant
9th-11th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £33
Of discoid form with integral suspension loop, decorated in relief. 3.36 grams, 28 mm
From the collection of a North American gentleman, formed in the 1990s. -
Anglo-Scandinavian Viking Bronze Urnes Style Entwined Beast Stirrup Mount
11th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £494
Of Williams's Class A Type 10b, a heater-shaped plaque with pierced lug at the apex, two piercings below, low-relief openwork Urnes style design with standing beast and entwined tendrils, narrow ledge to the reverse. 28.3 grams, 53 mm
Found Berkshire, UK.
The mount has the decorative scheme of Williams's Class A Type 10b but its proportions are closer to his Class A Type 11 with a narrow and elongated upper knop.
