A Scandinavian Relief Brooch: Artistic Vision and Practical Method Combined

Abstract

THIS PAPER considers the craftspeople that created ornamental metalwork, the contexts in which they operated, and the communication they had with their contemporaries. The study focuses on the Dalem brooch, a 6th-century Scandinavian relief brooch from Norway. By examining an object which expresses a complex symbolic language through intricate and demanding crafting processes, we emphasise the importance of considering both ornamentation and technology when studying these exquisite dress items. The brooch was manufactured from a variety of materials and decorated in Salin Style 1. This ornamentation, with its religious, political and social connotations, was completely integrated into the object from its conception. A combination of new and old designs indicates that the craftspeople purposefully created and transformed motifs for use on the brooch, operating within a creative, crossdisciplinary and intellectual centre of expertise.

Casting the Net Wider: Network Approaches to Artefact Variation in Post-Roman Europe

“…In other words, there was an aesthetic grammar behind the designs of brooches, albeit a malleable one (Dickinson 1991;Martin 2015, 14-16). A detailed version of this kind of thinking has recently been described in detail by Pedersen and Kristoffersen (2018), in which the composite design of a single brooch is suggested to have been the product of more than one craftsperson working on a single object. It may be the case that our Frankish, Langobard, Thuringian and Slavic brooches may or may not have been owned in their majority by individuals who called themselves Franks, Langobards, Thuringians or Slavs, but the objects themselves were essentially the most common combinations of particular sets of components found within a particular geographical range.…”

Herre og drott – konge og sjøkonge

“…Karakteristiske detaljer er vesentlige i slike vurderinger, elementer som ikke lett oppstår uavhengig av hverandre (Kristoffersen og Pedersen, under publisering). Fremstillingsprosessen har vaert kompleks og har krevet høy grad av kunnskap om ulike materialer (Pedersen og Kristoffersen 2018. Det ser også ut til å ha vaert lokal produksjon av gullbrakteater (Axboe 2004;Pesch 2007), keramikk (Kristoffersen og Magnus 2010; Fredriksen mfl.…”

Crossing crafts, merging arts

“…In recent years, there has been a significant shift toward a more diverse view of materiality, in which objects both shape and are shaped by social relations, symbolic motifs, and technological know-how. Creating visually striking metalwork required in-depth knowledge of a variety of techniques, and proficiency in working clay, wood and wax were equally important in metalworking expertise (Pedersen and Kristoffersen 2018). Furthermore, such versatile skills across different materials were a creative source in and of themselves, with the potential to inspire innovative material use and design exploration (Fredriksen et al 2014).…”