Viking metalworking and jewelry

Viking jewelry intricate and masterful artistry, with a strong preference for silver. The two methods most used by the Vikings were filigree and repoussé. The main themes in Viking jewelry are patterns of nature and animals, increasing in abstraction as the time period progressed. Later Viking jewelry also starts to exhibit simplistic geometric patterns. The most intricate Viking work recovered is a set of two bands from the 6th century in Alleberg, Sweden. Barbarian jewelry was very similar to that of the Vikings, having many of the same themes. Geometric and abstract patterns were present in much of barbarian art. Like other barbarian women Viking women needed jewelry to keep their clothes on.

Arts and crafts

In the Viking Age, both craftsmen and artists were referred to by the same word, smith (Old Norse: smidr), sometimes combining it with the material they worked in; a carpenter could, for example, be referred to as a tresmidr. Gunsmiths and shipsmiths had high status in Nordic society, but we do not know what the status of jewelers and other artisans was. Elaborately crafted jewelry made of precious metals was used to signal wealth and prestige. Gold and silver were used for the most distinguished objects, either in pure form or embedded as decoration in other materials. Precious metals were imported from the rest of Europe – either as jewelry or coins – and melted down. In the Roman and Germanic Iron Ages, large quantities of gold were imported, and some of it may have been reused in the Viking Age. Objects from foreign countries are usually made of gold or silver, decorated objects were luxury products (luxury objects of high value were easier to transport). Jewellery was also made from less noble metals, especially bronze, which was gilded or silvered to make it appear as if it were made from more expensive materials. During the 10th century, production sites for particularly exclusive items were established in Denmark. Until then, the most exclusive jewellery had been produced abroad. Otherwise, local craftsmen had only produced items from cheaper materials and using simpler techniques. 

Artists and craftsmen of the time were generally anonymous, the only ones who could sign their works were the rune carvers. Trends in art and craft were conveyed by itinerant craftsmen (Nordic and European), traders, missionaries and warriors. 

The art of the time was characterized by contrast, color, and harmonious movement. The style was flashy, but the best artists executed individual elements with the same care as the whole, so that the ornamentation can only be seen very close up. Overall, a certain figurative language and style were common throughout the period. The same applies to the motifs; new ones were not simply invented. Alexandra Persch therefore suggests that specialists may have produced the images. The figurative language was different from that prevalent in modern times, as events that were otherwise chronologically separate in a story were often depicted as appearing simultaneously on the picture field, so that the individual scenes of the story are put together so that they function as a whole. The majority of the decorations were found on everyday objects, and a recurring motif throughout the period was stylized animal figures, often designed in complicated patterns. Animals as a motif have long traditions in European art, but Nordic art is characterized by a close connection between decoration and object, where the ornamentation is made as an integrated part of the object. 

In most cases the patterns were non-figurative, and their meaning is therefore difficult to interpret. Preben Meulengracht Sørensen has suggested that they may have had no meaning other than ornamentation. The decoration with raptors usually shows, like the pictures that illustrate stories, a moment in the middle of a scene where it is up to the viewer's imagination what happens next; for example, a predator about to pounce on another animal. Plant motifs flourished in the first half of the Viking Age, but disappeared again around the year 1000. 

Metalworking

Beyond the discontinuous artifactual records of wood and stone, the reconstructed history of Viking art to date relies most on the study of decoration of ornamental metalwork from a great variety of sources. Several types of archaeological context have succeeded in preserving metal objects for present study, while the durability of precious metals, in particular, has preserved much artistic expression and endeavor.

Jewelry was worn by both men and women, though of different types. Married women fastened their overdresses near the shoulder with matching pairs of large brooches. Modern scholars often call them "tortoise brooches" because of their domed shape. The shapes and styles of women's paired brooches varied regionally, but many used openwork. Women often strung metal chains or strings of beads between the brooches or suspended ornaments from the bottom of the brooches. Men wore rings on their fingers, arms and necks, and held their cloaks closed with penannular brooches, often with extravagantly long pins. Their weapons were often richly decorated on areas such as sword hilts. A small number of large and lavish pieces or sets in solid gold have been found, probably belonging to royalty or major figures.

Decorated metalwork of an everyday nature is frequently recovered from Viking period graves, on account of the widespread practice of making burials accompanied by grave goods. The deceased was dressed in their best clothing and jewelry, and was interred with weapons, tools, and household goods. Items were forged by casting, inlay, and engraving. Less common, but significant nonetheless, are finds of precious metal objects in the form of treasure hoards, many apparently concealed for safe-keeping by owners later unable to recover their contents, although some may have been deposited as offerings to the gods.

Recently, given the increasing popularity and legality of metal-detecting, an increasing frequency of single, chance finds of metal objects and ornaments (most probably representing accidental losses) is creating a fast expanding corpus of new material for study.

Viking coins fit well into this latter category, but nonetheless form a separate category of Viking period artefact, their design and decoration largely independent of the developing styles characteristic of wider Viking artistic endeavor.

Beads

Beads were a significant part of Viking society for a multitude of reasons. They were a form of art commonly made out of glass but also from different types of metals and, more rarely, natural materials such as amber, carnelian, rock crystal, etc. These were used to create pendants and/or beads for Vikings. Typically, beads were globular and monochrome; however, the rarer beads were kaleidoscopic and had unique patterns.

Beads from the Viking age have been found primarily within Viking burial sites like Birka and also in known Viking settlement locations and trading towns like Hedeby. Beads during this era were costly items, so if used for individual purposes, they were an indicator of wealth and high social status; The role of beads in burial sites indicated their cultural significance and value within the Viking Society.

Beads were also a huge drive for trade; The Norse used them as portable wealth and leverage for economic determinism. While Scandivania’s beads were an attraction and gave wealth to early Viking establishments, over time and through widespread trade routes from Viking expansion, Eastern beads became more popular. However, beads were still used as a form of currency and a symbol of wealth. Beads were an incentive for trade further establishing Viking settlement and were a huge part of Viking art and culture.

Styles

Archaeologists have classified the two main periods of Viking art into seven main styles: Broa (formerly Oseberg), Berdal, Borre, Jelling, Mammen, Ringerike and Urness style. Extensive studies of the decorations have shown a chronological development of the styles; therefore, today, decorations on excavated objects are often used to make an approximate date for them. Each of them is named after the location of prominent objects decorated in the style in question; for example, the Jelling style, with its prominent animal figures, was named after findings in one of the royal burial mounds in Jelling. The Ringerike style, characterized by elaborate plant decorations, is named after an area in Norway where a number of images carved into sandstone were found. The youngest style was named after a carved wooden door section in the Urnes stave church in Sognefjorden. Overview of styles in Viking Age material art:

The Broa style, named after Broa on Gotland, was used from the second half of the 8th century to the beginning of the 9th century. Like both the preceding and succeeding styles, it is characterized by stylized animal figures, either designed as twisted ribbons or with more rounded shapes.

The Oseberg style has great similarities to the Broa style, but the animals here are equipped with claws that grasp either themselves or something else; these figures are called griffins, and are prevalent from around 800 to around 875. It is the Oseberg grave from 834 that gives the style its name.

The Berdal style is named after a locality in the Sognefjord. It is characterized by asymmetrical elongated animals with rounded bodies and triangular heads. Known from the late 8th century to the early 9th century. Ribe has apparently been the main production site for bowl buckles in this style. 

The Borre style is named after two pieces of gilded bronze harness found at Borre in Norway. They are decorated in a more geometric and formalized pattern of compound circles or squares than previously used. The style is primarily known from decorations on personal objects from about 850 and 100 years later. Objects in the Borre style have been found not only in Scandinavia, but throughout Northern Europe from Iceland to Russia. The style appears alongside English-inspired vine motifs. 

The Jelling style was widespread in the first half of the 10th century, and is primarily characterized by ribbon-shaped animals that intertwine in S-curves. Decorations in this style are also known from finds outside Scandinavia. It is contemporary with late Carolingian acanthus and plant vine ornamentation, which in several cases appear next to each other on objects. 

The Mammen style is named after the objects from a well-equipped nobleman's grave from Mammen in northwestern Jutland. Like the Ringerike style, it is characterized by semi-naturalistic motifs surrounded by intertwined plant vines, which are a fusion of Carolingian acanthus and Nordic animal style. It was widespread in the latter half of the 10th century. The style was perhaps especially associated with the circle around the Danish royal house, and perhaps even directly inspired by the decoration on the great Jelling stone. 

The Ringerike style was apparently limited to the Ringerike region in southwestern Norway, where there are large deposits of the reddish sandstones that this style is particularly known from. Like the Mammen style, it is characterized by animals that are almost hidden in creepers.

The Urness style is the youngest style. It originated around 1050 and was widespread throughout Scandinavia until the 12th century. It is characterized by more stylized and thinner animals than the previous styles. Iben Klæsøe characterizes it as more stylistically monotonous, less lively and diverse than the previous styles. They are usually surrounded by elegant patterns with multiple loops. The encircling plant tendrils in the two previous styles have disappeared in this style, and are instead integrated into the motif. 

Around the turn of the 11th and 12th centuries, the traditional Nordic style was replaced by the international Romanesque style. This led to a renewal of motifs and the symbolic imagery. 

International inspiration

Viking art has clear characteristics that distinguish it from the art traditions of neighboring cultures. One example is the bowl clasps, which are the most widespread jewelry items from the Viking Age. They were used as clasps on the upper part of women's dresses. The decoration on them was conservative, and only few stylistic changes can be traced over a period of about 400 years.. However, Iben Skibsted Klæsøe has collected a number of other stylistic features whose origins can be traced to specific areas in the Vikings' neighboring countries. For example, the geometric patterns and animal ornaments are found in Irish book illustrations from about the 6th to the 8th centuries. They are characterized by coiled and braided animal bodies and a number of plant motifs.

Another widespread group of finds are the three-lobed fibulae, which, together with the cup buckles, were part of women's standard jewellery. They were used to gather and hold a shawl or similar on the chest. Within this group, several variations and fashion trends have been found that were inspired by southwestern European traditions. In the Frankish Empire, this type of fibula was used as sword scabbard fittings, and the first examples were probably brought home by men who had served as mercenaries and used as gifts for women. However, uniqueness was not a distinctive feature of Nordic art, as European art in the early Middle Ages was generally characterised by large local variations. Skibsted Klæsøe notes that the nature of the objects apparently had some influence on which form of decoration was chosen. For example, vines and acanthus leaves, which gradually gained ground in Nordic art, were initially only used on the three-lobed fibula buckles. The most important foreign trends were symbolic Christian paradise figures in the form of lions, birds and vines, as well as the imperial/divine acanthus plants. 

The most widespread European style in the early Middle Ages was the Insular style, which had its roots in the Irish-Anglo-Saxon tradition, but which was spread throughout Western Europe through monasteries. Another British technique that gained popularity in the Nordic countries was ring pins with filigree in silver and inlaid amber or glass. There was even an influence from Middle Eastern traditions from the British Isles. In the 7th and 8th centuries, there was a clear Syrian influence in the English clergy due to the establishment of several Syrian monastic colonies, including Lindisfarne. The background was that several Syrians were elected popes, and they brought many monks with them to Western Europe. These monks brought with them, among other things, a slightly more graceful style with motifs of vines and birds depicted in pairs in the branches. Vines are explained in the Gospel of John, chap. 15;1 as a symbol of the church. This meant that the English animal style approached oriental styles and became more naturalistic. The animals had elongated bodies, but not distorted as in the Nordic style. These elongated shapes are found on Nordic bowl buckles from about the 9th to the 11th century, where they were often combined with traditional Nordic griffins. Skibsted Klæsøe believes that although the Christian motifs were thus often present in the motif language, they were used without their real meaning being fully understood until well into the 10th century. 

From the late 9th century to about the 950s, the Frankish acanthus style appears in Nordic decorations. This style had flourished in the Frankish Empire under Charlemagne in the 8th to 9th centuries. It is based on Greco-Roman traditions and is known, for example, from capital decorations on columns of the Corinthian type. The motifs are based on Mediterranean flora and are named after acanthus. The classical inspiration in the art of Charlemagne's empire reflects the emperor's intentions to recreate the Roman Empire. The artistic environment he built up was part of the Carolingian Renaissance. This environment was international, and influences therefore came from many places, including Syria and the Byzantine Empire in addition to the rest of Western and Southern Europe. For example, lion motifs of Byzantine origin were spread throughout Northern and Western Europe at the beginning of the 8th century. In the Nordic countries, lions were quickly incorporated into the local style. It has been suggested that refugees from the iconoclastic conflicts may have brought with them ornate gene stands and thereby inspired new motifs. Fibulae inspired by the Frankish style from around the 9th century are concentrated around Uppland in Sweden, suggesting strong connections between this area and Central Europe at that time. 

Both the Middle Eastern vine and the Frankish acanthus styles made their mark in the Nordic countries about 100 years after their emergence in their homelands. In the latter half of the 9th century, Frankish acanthus and British vine ornamentation merged in continental art. This new hybrid form later inspired the plant decoration in late Viking Age art. 

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