chunky technique, are ‘gripping-beasts’, (Figure 24. 1 d), which apparently lack sym-
metry and coherence. The hips are emphasised (the body often disappears); the feet grip,
or reach towards, the border of the field in which they are placed, or actually grip part of
their own body. The heads appear as masks. The bodies of all these animals frequently
pass from one field to another.
The most important style III find comes from the early ninth-century Norwegian
ship burial from Oseberg (Shetelig 1920 ; Christensen et al. 1992 ). The wooden prow
and stem of the ship and many other wooden associated finds – tent-posts, bed-posts,
four sledges and a cart are decorated in this style, in a manner well adapted to the objects
which they embellish. While the objects differ widely in form and appearance, their
ornament is stylistically coherent (although a cart, with its narrative scenes, stands
slightly outside the series).
Not all style E artefacts are of the quality of Oseberg and Broa. Humbler objects
were decorated in this style: oval brooches (an adjunct of smart dress – equivalent of later
folk costume jewellery), for example, were widely dispersed and demonstrate a pan-
Scandinavian taste. The brooches were copied, often by being moulded from each other
( Jansson 1985 ), the shrinkage in the clay moulds at each stage of the process resulting in
the ornamental detail becoming smaller and more degenerate over time. Other simple
objects were clearly produced in a similar fashion.
Early scholars were much exercised by the possibility of a British – and particularly
an Irish – origin for much of Viking art. While there are tenuous links with both
Britain and the Continent, there is no evidence that style E, while related to a common
abcd
Figure 24. 1 Style E ornament on gilt-bronze harness-mounts from Broa, Halla, Gotland, Sweden.
Scale 1 : 1. © D.M. Wilson.–– David M. Wilson––