DOI issue:
No. 56 (November, 1897)
DOI article:Allen, John Romilly: Early scandinavian wood-carvings, [2]
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18390#0112
Early Scandinavian Wood-(. %arvings
began to fall to pieces, so that the village priest,
Pastor Arneston, was glad (on Aladdin's principle
of " new lamps for old ") to hand over this precious
relic of antiquity to the Copenhagen Museum, and
to receive in exchange a new oaken door and two
altar candlesticks. The late Prof. George Stephens,
the world renowned Runic scholar of Copenhagen,
has described this door very fully in the Archceo-
logia Scotica (vol. v. 1873, p. 249) of the Society
of Antiquaries of Scotland. He explains that the
figure-subject in the upper medallion consists of
three scenes taken from the legend of King Theo-
dorik and the Drake. As the story tells, King
FIG. 5.—CARVED DOORWAY FROM FLAA CHURCH, HALLINGDAL
86
Theodorik once upon a time rescued a lion from
danger of death from a savage dragon by slaying
the monster, and ever afterwards the grateful lion
followed his friend and protector. The first act in
the drama is clearly portrayed on the lower half
of the medallion. Here King Theodorik is seen
piercing the dragon with his keen sword-blade.
The reptile is strangling the lion with his convo
luted tail, but his protruding tongue and the
agonised way in which he is coiling his neck round
a tree stem shows that his end is near. On the
upper half of the medallion we see the lion follow-
ing King Theodorik like a faithful hound, and in
the last and most pathetic scene of all,
the lion lies on his master's grave true till
death, and refusing to be comforted. Prof.
Stephens reads the Runic inscription on
the king's grave as follows :
" (Se hin) rikia kiinling her grafin er
na dreka thena."
"(See yon) mighty king here buried
who slew the dragon this."
The first twTo words of the inscription
are broken away, and are therefore con-
jectural.
Some incised marks on the door are
perhaps those of the carver. The mili-
tary dress of King Theodorik, with the
k,ite-shaped shield and conical helmet with
nasal, is interesting from being like the
costume of the Norman warriors on the
Bayeux tapestry, and on the Norman
doorway at Brayton, in Yorkshire. The
date is thus fixed at n50 to 1200. The
early representation of a wooden church
and the little beasts' heads peeping out of
a hole in the ground are worth noticing.
The decorative effect of the carving is
increased by leaving a due amount of
space quite plain to give the eye an occa-
sional rest whilst wandering over the sur-
face and endeavouring to convey to the
brain a general impression of the whole
design. The details are finished with
great care and skill. The conventional
methods of indicating the texture ot the
feathers of the dragons wings, the manes
of the horse and the lion, the tuft on the
end of the tail of the lion, the spinal ridge
of the dragon's back, and the leaves of the
plants, all contribute towards the general
effect. By introducing different kinds of
texture, the carver is able to produce
gradated contrasts between one portion ot
began to fall to pieces, so that the village priest,
Pastor Arneston, was glad (on Aladdin's principle
of " new lamps for old ") to hand over this precious
relic of antiquity to the Copenhagen Museum, and
to receive in exchange a new oaken door and two
altar candlesticks. The late Prof. George Stephens,
the world renowned Runic scholar of Copenhagen,
has described this door very fully in the Archceo-
logia Scotica (vol. v. 1873, p. 249) of the Society
of Antiquaries of Scotland. He explains that the
figure-subject in the upper medallion consists of
three scenes taken from the legend of King Theo-
dorik and the Drake. As the story tells, King
FIG. 5.—CARVED DOORWAY FROM FLAA CHURCH, HALLINGDAL
86
Theodorik once upon a time rescued a lion from
danger of death from a savage dragon by slaying
the monster, and ever afterwards the grateful lion
followed his friend and protector. The first act in
the drama is clearly portrayed on the lower half
of the medallion. Here King Theodorik is seen
piercing the dragon with his keen sword-blade.
The reptile is strangling the lion with his convo
luted tail, but his protruding tongue and the
agonised way in which he is coiling his neck round
a tree stem shows that his end is near. On the
upper half of the medallion we see the lion follow-
ing King Theodorik like a faithful hound, and in
the last and most pathetic scene of all,
the lion lies on his master's grave true till
death, and refusing to be comforted. Prof.
Stephens reads the Runic inscription on
the king's grave as follows :
" (Se hin) rikia kiinling her grafin er
na dreka thena."
"(See yon) mighty king here buried
who slew the dragon this."
The first twTo words of the inscription
are broken away, and are therefore con-
jectural.
Some incised marks on the door are
perhaps those of the carver. The mili-
tary dress of King Theodorik, with the
k,ite-shaped shield and conical helmet with
nasal, is interesting from being like the
costume of the Norman warriors on the
Bayeux tapestry, and on the Norman
doorway at Brayton, in Yorkshire. The
date is thus fixed at n50 to 1200. The
early representation of a wooden church
and the little beasts' heads peeping out of
a hole in the ground are worth noticing.
The decorative effect of the carving is
increased by leaving a due amount of
space quite plain to give the eye an occa-
sional rest whilst wandering over the sur-
face and endeavouring to convey to the
brain a general impression of the whole
design. The details are finished with
great care and skill. The conventional
methods of indicating the texture ot the
feathers of the dragons wings, the manes
of the horse and the lion, the tuft on the
end of the tail of the lion, the spinal ridge
of the dragon's back, and the leaves of the
plants, all contribute towards the general
effect. By introducing different kinds of
texture, the carver is able to produce
gradated contrasts between one portion ot