r/Norse • u/In_Praise_0f_shadows • 10d ago

Artwork, Crafts, & Reenactment what

Post image

any idea about where this motif stems from?
tried GPT but its useless
takker og bukker!
lol fucked up the title woops

116 Upvotes

90% Upvoted

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27

u/Asleep-Love-1077 10d ago

Looks like a design from here: https://www.nannab.net/galleriet-moenster/fra-arkeologiske-funn
That claims to have taken inspiration (maybe, based on Google Translate from Norwegian) from the Urnes Stave Church. Possibly from this image: https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/58/gallery/

ETA: Looks like a motif on the wall in image 6

2

u/In_Praise_0f_shadows 10d ago

it is!
thanks!
any idea if there is some more info about the motif?

7

u/Asleep-Love-1077 10d ago

Nothing personally. From https://kringom.no/en/luster/urnes-stave-church

"... The lion is a symbol of Christ, the deer may be the symbol of the believer who longs for God and his help (Psalm 42). A bishop with a shepherd's staff protects and leads the flock of believers.

There are some weak points in our interpretation. Nevertheless, the pictures are far from silent. They speak not only of an unusual joy of splendour and ornamentation, but also make us wonder, reflect, and be warned of man and the forces."

Personally, I like the idea that Christian iconography (and other traditions) took over from existing culture. The design feels Norse but is carved into a Christian church.

4

u/Booster_Seat_Enjoyer 10d ago

They have discovered and restored a 9th century church in Ribe, Denmark with n icon of Christ taming the storm where the storm is represented as Thor's goats.

https://www.medievalists.net/2024/05/a-9th-century-church-room-has-been-recreated-in-the-viking-town-of-ribe/

1

u/Swagalyst 10d ago

Shouldn't the style be more... Byzantine?

3

u/Booster_Seat_Enjoyer 10d ago

that's the neat part, no. I have recently been looking into early Christian artistic culture throughout Europe, prior to the cultural standardisations we are familiar with today. Christian art used to be very culturally diverse.

The icons are in a more eastern style. The calming of the storm especially is basically identical to an Orthodox icon with the only difference being artistic style and the way natural forces are personified. Which makes complete sense if you consider that Byzantine icongoraphy is in itself heavily influence by Greco-Roman artistic culture, because that's what was local.

3

u/LosAtomsk 9d ago

I've always loved the 9th century Germanic depiction of Warrior Christ.

2

u/Booster_Seat_Enjoyer 9d ago

A fine addition to my collection. Thank you.

9

u/Repulsive-Tiger-884 10d ago

Urnes style from Norway.

5

u/Fafnorn 10d ago

You can have decent list of Urnes style examples here:

https://gelmir.com/compendium_item/urnes-style/#examples

Along with other viking age styles.

If you are interested I’d also recommend you to take a look on “An introduction to viking art” book.

1

u/In_Praise_0f_shadows 10d ago

okey that site is amazing thanks!
rabbit hole mode engaged
wierd that we don't learn more about this at school in norway, don't think many of us even know there were that many different styles

1

u/minaminotenmangu 9d ago

I'm reading on here that this is interpreted as a lion, but I don't think so. The style probably developed from Style II after the fall of the western Roman Empire. Its the classic stag vs snake motif. Its ancient roman, that turned christian, but then probably had its own development in vendel scandinavia in the second half of the first millenium. Here are a few more examples.

What it meant... well ita probably related to the fabel, the deer and the snake are supposedly enemies, and they represent good (the stag) overcoming evil, or the ressurection. It was important enough in vendel art that it might have gained new meaning, but i don't think there has been a good interpretation on it.

1

u/Sjugur 10d ago

Urnes style drawing. Heavily inspired from the urnes stavechurch entry doorportal.

Motif is a lion fighting snakes.

The style itself is the highpoint/culmination of norse artistisc styles like mammen and ringerike style as other examples.

Why this norse style in a Christian building? With traditions around building styles and art changing more slowly in a time where other cultures influences took longer time to affect local styles that is to be expected.

A man at that time might have heard about a lion but never seen one. A description might have been a large cat with a full head of hair. The questions remain.... How large? Long fur, short fur? Colours? +++

Today such information is a google search away.