derived from the Borre ring-chain. On either side of the midrib is an animal with
ribbon-like body, spiral hips, legs which interlace with the body, and a pigtail.
Many features of the Jellinge style may be derived from style III, as, for example,
from the ribbon-formed animals on the runners of Shetelig’s sledge at Oseberg (Shetelig
1920 fig. 159 a and c). It must be stressed, however, that, by the time the Jellinge style
had reached its full maturity – on the Mammen horse-collar, for example (Näsman
1991 : figs 11 – 17 ) – all distinct traces of style E had been subsumed into the new style.
The earliest datable Jellinge-style object is a strap-end from the Gokstad mound
(Wilson and Klindt-Jensen 1966 : pl. 30 d), which is dated dendrochonologically
c. 900 – 5 , suggesting that the style developed towards the end of the ninth century. The
Jelling beaker was deposited 958 / 9. Other dates are provided by coin hoards – Vårby
(deposited c. 940 ), Eketorp (deposited after 954 ), Sejrø (deposited c. 953 ) and the mid-
ninth-century Gnezdovo hoard. Emerging just before 900 , the Jellinge style gradually
developed into the Mammen style, dying out towards the end of the tenth century.
The Mammen style (Fuglesang 1991 ) is named after an axe from a richly equipped
man’s grave in the mound at Bjerringhøj, Mammen, Jutland. Decorated on both faces
with inlaid silver wire, it bears on one face (Figure 24. 5 ) an asymmetrical bird-like
creature with back-turned head, lip-lappet and various foliate offshoots. There is a large
spiral hip, and the offshoots interlace elaborately with the body to form double loops
(sometimes described as pretzel loops) to fill the whole field. There are curved nicks in
the contour and the body is embellished with a regular pattern of inlaid dots. The other
face of the axe is decorated in the same technique and has similar billeting. As befits an
Figure 24. 5 Inlaid iron axe-head from Bjerringhøj, Mammen, Jutland , Denmark. Length: 19 cm.
© Holger Arbman.–– chapter 24: The development of Viking art––