Viking Silver-Gilt Pendant with Odin Gripping Two Ravens

9TH-10TH CENTURY A.D.

1 in. (3.58 grams, 24 mm).

Integral loop, border enclosing a low-relief image of a male facing mask between two birds embraced at the necks. [No Reserve]

Provenance

From the collection of a North American gentleman, formed in the 1990s.

Literature

Cf. Hammond, B. M., British Artefacts Volume 2 - Middle Saxon and Viking, p.57, item 1.5.3-f.; and Korshyn, V.E., Yazcheskye Priveski Drevnei Rusi X-XIV Vekov, Moscow, 2013, item M.2.02.

Footnotes

The iconography of the pendant is evidently based on the mythological representation of Odin, whose ravens, Huginn and Muninn, were his spirit companions and confidents. Huginn and Muninn travelled around the world bringing news and information to their master. Odin sent them out at dawn to gather information and they returned in the evening, sitting on the god's shoulders and whispering the news into his ears. It is from these ravens that the raven-god kenning representing Odin was derived.

CONDITION

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LOT 1468