Lot 38
Northern Europe, Viking culture, ca. 8th to 10th century CE. An opulent gilt silver belt buckle of convex, ovoid form featuring a stylized wolf who turns his head to bite its own twisted tail. The fierce animal display a slender body adorned with spiraling motifs, 4 bent legs, and an elongated snout. His meandering tail splits into a twisted motif at the end. Some refer to the motif as "Gripping Beasts" because of the way the canine seems to grasp the borders around it. All is surrounded by a twisted border with a pair of loops for the belt on the verso. Size: 2.3" L x 1.7" W (5.8 cm x 4.3 cm); silver quality: 80.69%; gilding quality: up to 61.4% (over 14 karats); weight: 30.4 grams
This abstract canine likely represents Fenrir, a monstrous wolf famous in Norse mythology. He was the son of the god Loki and giantess Angrboda. The other gods bound Fenrir out of fear of his size. At Ragnarok, the end of the world, Fenrir eats Odin. This story of god death seems to have been a major inspiration for northern pagan people grappling with Christianity, and Fenrir is a common theme of Viking artwork that features both Norse and Christian themes.
The Jellinge style is named after Jelling, Denmark, where a silver cup bearing interlaced, curving animals was found in the royal burial chamber of King Gorm the Old, the first known king of Denmark. Although the style is designed to look like filigree work, it is actually cast. The Jelling style features S-shaped animals or mythological beasts whose bodies loop in and around one another, with sinuous tendrils snaking off their limbs and tongues.
Provenance: private New York, New York, USA collection; ex-private Kaliningrad (Koenigsberg) and then Latvia collection; found on the Baltic Sea coast prior to 1982
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#190736
- Condition: Some light rubbing and age-commensurate surface wear as shown, but otherwise intact and excellent with good remaining gilding and detail.
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