Viking belt end Borre animal

Product description

The Viking belt end is crafted in the Borre style (825–970). It is well-suited to a belt strap with a width of 3 cm, and the belt end itself measures 6.8 × 2.6 cm. It is bronze coloured.

Examples of this belt end have been found at the ship-burial at Borre, Vestfold, Norway. They are of the exact same shape: a long belt end with geometric patterns filling the surface, ending in a triangular animal head. The execution of the animal head of this reproduced belt strap is similar to the historical originals excavated at Borre. The animal heads are shown en face and give the impression that their bodies are viewed from above.

However, the decoration of the belt ends differs. The belt ends from the ship-burial at Borre are decorated with geometric yet more angular patterns. The rounder patterns on the reproduced belt end appear to be inspired by Jellinge style patterns. Viking art was applied to several other media besides metalwork, amongst them wood-carvings and stone sculptures such as grave slabs. Attractive patterns that were typical of certain media were applied to others. This appears to be the case for this belt end: patterns typical of stone sculptures are here applied to metalwork.