LOT 0260

Viking Iron Axehead with Silver Inlaid Interlaced Dragons

7TH-9TH CENTURY A.D.

5 1/2 in. (282 grams, 14 cm).

To both lateral faces, the upper face of the blade and the rear of the socket decorated with an interlaced design; slender body with bearded lower edge and curved blade, lateral spurs and rectangular panel to the butt. [No Reserve]

Private collection formed in Europe in the 1980s.
Westminster collection, central London, UK.

Accompanied by a copy of a four page report written by Saxon and Viking specialist Stephen Pollington.
This lot has been checked against the Interpol Database of stolen works of art and is accompanied by search certificate number no.11878-206842.

See Sedov, B.B., Finno-Ugri i Balti v Epokhi Srednevekovija, Moscow, 1987, pl.V (20), for type; Salin, B., Die Altgermanische Thierornamentik, Stockholm, 1935.

The style of the design inlaid to the axe is interesting since it evidently owes a great deal to the kinds of Insular Style ornament found in manuscripts of the 8th century in the British Isles. The elegant curves of the narrow tendrils are strongly reminiscent of the zoomorphic elements found in the Lindisfarne Gospels, St Gall Codex and the Book of Kells (Salin, 1935, pp.342-3; Moss, 2018) and the inlaid designs show the characteristic parallel curves found for example on some of the initials in those documents. The tight knot serpentine bodies recalls the similar dense knot found in the Kells manuscript (Salin's figure 731). However, the details of the layout and execution show that the piece is unlikely to have originated in the British Isles.