Rain In Stavanger: Borre style

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Borre style

A Borre style example

Description from The Vikings in the Museum of Archeology Stavanger brochure:

"...a gold clasp from Nedrebo on Bokn (island)...originates from the 900's, round gold plate wtih decor in the style of the Nordic animal ornamentation, the so-called Borre style...4 sections, main one cross motif...riveted to a round silver sheet plate, 2 thin, entwined gold threads are laid around this...thought cut from an Irish hanging bowl, a holy water vessel which was used in the Roman Catholic church service..."

Note: No photo of it is on their webpage - but I saw the particular clasp it describes to find it was very well preserved, surprisenly mixed among other Bronze Age items on display on a shelf in a large case - I would of had it stand alone I think & you could not view the bottom side of it either, but then I am not an archeologist nor part of the museum to have a say - the detail was intricate & curious, I stood a long while to try to figure out the faces of either people or animals in it's design...so I returned home to read more about this style of jewelry making from the Bronze Age & found a lot of photos/links...see below...

Stavanger Archeology Museum

Link: www.ark.museum.no/Solensreise/solen

Description from Wikipedia:

The Borre style is a Scandinavian animal style which is named after a boat grave in Borre, Norway.

The Borre style succeeded the Oseberg style and was partly contemporaneous with the Jelling style.

The Borre style evolved at the latest c. 850 and was still used in the late 10th century.

Its most characteristic motif is the so-called "ring braid" which consists of a symmetrical braiding with two bands, held together by rings that are surrounded by square figures.
The animal ornamentation of the Viking Age is usually categorized into Oseberg style, Borre style, Jelling style, Mammen style, Ringerike style and Urnes style.

Link: www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borre_style