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LOT 0355
Viking Bronze Borre Style Tortoise Brooch Set with Pendants
10TH-11TH CENTURY A.D.
21 3/4 x 18 3/4 in. (6.75 kg total, 55 x 47.5 cm including display frame).
Composed of a pair of brooches with pin to the reverse; attached to each brooch is a double rosette spacer with chain extending to other tortoise brooch; from the other rosette spacer hang two more chains, one with a needle case with openwork scroll pattern above, and one with a decorated lunate pendant; mounted on a large high-quality custom-made display stand by Colin Bowles Limited.
ProvenanceProperty of a professional collector; acquired before 1990.
Ex London collection since 2016.
Accompanied by an academic report by Dr Raffaele D’Amato.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.11736-201216.
For similar oval brooches see Arbman, H., Birka I: Die Gräber, Uppsala, 1940, pls.58ff. and in particular 62-63, 67; see also Graham-Campbell, J. & Kidd, D., The Vikings, London, 1980, figs.52-53, for similar brooches from Norway; Roesdahl, E., Wilson D.M., From Viking to Crusader: The Scandinavians and Europe 800 to 1200 (22nd Council of Europe Exhibition), Copenhagen, 1992, p.69, pp.75, 89, for similar specimens; Berthelot, S., Musin, A., Russie Viking, vers une autre Normandie? Novgorod et la Russie du Nord, des migrations scandinaves á la fin due Moyen Age (VIIIe-Xve s.), Paris, 2011, pp.90-91.
FootnotesThe most characteristic items of Viking women's jewellery are oval brooch pairs, sometimes called tortoise brooches due to their shape, found in many Viking Age female graves. As in this example, the tortoise brooches themselves were sometimes chained together. These chains suspended from the pair of brooches also supported utilitarian objects such as tweezers, ear spoon, scissors and a small knife, as well as amulets. Sometimes the brooches suspended strands of beads of glass, silver, amber or jet.
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LOT 0355
Viking Bronze Borre Style Tortoise Brooch Set with Pendants
Estimate £2,000 - 3,000€2,320 - 3,480 (for guidance only)$2,700 - 4,050 (for guidance only)
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Viking Period Rus Silver Temple Earring Pair
10th-12th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £338
Each composed of a decoratively twisted upper hoop, bulbous collars and a large central bulb with projecting cones and granules. 30 grams total, 55-57 mm
From the collection of a North American gentleman, formed in the 1990s.
This style of earring was typical among Slavic women in the 8th-12th centuries, an imitation of Eastern Roman models. Examples have been found in Poland, Czech Republic, and Slovakia, and with similar decoration in Belarus. Such rings were also worn as part of head-dresses, in which context they are known as ‘temple rings’ because they were worn by women near the temples. They were usually made of base metals, but some silver and gold examples also survive. Different tribes had their own designs, which were often threaded onto a cord, forming part of a head-dress, or woven directly into braids of hair. -
Viking Age Bronze Stirrup Apex Mount with Bear's Mask
11th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £234
Of Williams's Class B Type 4, comprising a facing bear's head mask with piriform eyes and openwork ears, ribbed forelock, lateral loops above vertical bars connected to the lower rectangular panel with angled ledge below; restored. 30 grams, 40 mm
Found UK. From an old North Country collection; formed between 1970-2000. -
Viking Age Silver-Gilt Filigree Pendant with Conjoined Ravens
9th-11th century A.D.Sold for (Inc. bp): £5,460
The upper face decorated with a two-headed filigree raven, raised ropework border, suspension loop with pyramids of granules continuing onto the reverse. 6.26 grams, 42 mm
Private collection formed in Europe in the 1980s. Westminster collection, central London, UK. This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate no.203746.
Pairs of ravens were considered auspicious in medieval Scandinavian society. In pre-Christian times, two such birds were the informants of the god Odin, who relayed news of the deeds of men. They were also carrion birds, frequenting battlefields to feast on the bodies of fallen warriors.
