Details

LOT 0262

Viking Iron Sword with Cross Guard Surmounted by Interlaced Dragons

9TH-11TH CENTURY A.D.

35 1/4 in. (900 grams, 89.5 cm).

Comprising a double-edged cutting blade with tapering fullers and hefty tang; the bronze cross guard in Jellinge style with dragon head finials and a central human face to the lower edge; the pommel with seven lobes; accompanied by a bronze openwork chape with central bird motif decorated with stamped ring-and-dot design. [2]

Provenance

From the private collection of a London gentleman, from his grandfather's collection formed before the early 1970s.

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.11821-206859.

Literature

See Peirce, I., Swords of the Viking Age, Suffolk, 2002; Żabiński, G., ‘Viking Age Swords from Scotland’, in Acta Militaria Mediaevalia III, Kraków, Sanok, 2007, pp.29–84; see a sword in the Musée de l’Armée published by Peirce (2002, pp.70-71), for a similar pommel; cf. Paulsen, P., Schwertortbänder der Wikingerzeit, Stuttgart, 1953, for the chape; see also Michalak, A., Socha, K., ‘A sword scabbard chape with a depiction of a bird of prey from the surroundings of Kostrzyn’ in Slavia Antiqua, 2017, LVIII, pp.159-174, figs.3-4.

Footnotes

The blade of the sword is very similar to Petersen Type K; the hilt is a typical Type K, but having seven rather than five lobes to the pommel. The chape, the parallels of which are mostly of late 10th and early 11th centuries, is probably a later addition, possibly reworked to be fitted to the sword.