Friday, December 9, 2016

Viking Button?

Enameled bronze button from Birka.
Photograph:  Historiska Museet, Stockholm
Catalog text on the item.  Photograph; Historiska Museet, Stockholm.
The color photograph that appears as part of this post is from the on-line database of the Historical Museum in Stockholm, Sweden.  it is identified there as an cooper alloy button with enamel from the Viking Age that was found at Birka. The link to its entry in the Museum's database may be found here.

I have never seen a picture of such a Viking artifact before.  So I'm asking my readers about this Birka find.  It's a striking and beautiful design, and I'd like to have a better idea of how it might have been worn.  However, based on the information on the Historiska Museet's database page, it appears to have come from the "Black Earth" area, not from one of the graves.  That may mean that we know little about it.  Is anyone aware of any publications or reports that discuss this item?

EDIT (12/9/2016):  At the bottom of the database page I originally linked to, there's a link to this page, which contains the index card image now shown to the right.  Note the drawing showing a central shank with a hole in it on the rear.
Posted by at
Labels: , ,

5 comments:

  1. AnonymousDecember 9, 2016 at 1:06 AM

    my first reaction is that it looks like a stolen bookmount, which were known to have been repurposed.

    also, does it have a shank on the back, because button can mean more than something you do your coat up with (it can mean brooach, or something you press, or just something small and round), and there could be translation issues at play

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cathy RaymondDecember 9, 2016 at 1:10 AM

      Thanks for your suggestions.

      The Historiska Museet's database page (which I link to above) refers to the thing as a "button", and it includes an index-card description along with front-and-back sketches showing what is clearly a shank. Of course, a drawing is indirect evidence, and the page does not have a PHOTOGRAPH of the back of the item.

      Delete
  2. Carolyn Priest-DormanDecember 9, 2016 at 2:17 AM

    Some of the small (1") round pin-back brooches from Birka are also enameled. Birka II:1 seems to suggest they might be Merovingian or Carolingian; without spending some time translating the German, this is the best info I have on hand.

    Apparently, if I use Chrome I am able to post comments here.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Cathy RaymondDecember 9, 2016 at 11:38 AM

      Hi, Carolyn! It's good to see that there is a way you can post here.

      Take a look at the index card/catalog text I've posted from the Historiska Museet's database page and see what you think.

      Delete
    2. Cathy RaymondDecember 9, 2016 at 4:36 PM

      Hi, Carolyn! It's good to see that there is a way you can post here.

      Take a look at the index card/catalog text I've posted from the Historiska Museet's database page and see what you think.

      Delete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)