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Hajar | all galleries >> Viking Age Art >> Viking Age Art Styles > Borre style gripping beast pendant, 9th-10th century, west Ukraine
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10-Mar-2025

Borre style gripping beast pendant, 9th-10th century, west Ukraine

The central contorted creature with its impish face is bound to and grips the surrounding frame with two paws and grasps its own body with another. There are two pairs of facing fanged beast heads on the circular frame.

In 2015 https://lifeartearth.blogspot.com/2015/05/a-viking-bound-gripping-beast-pendant.html), I suggested that the bound figure could represent a shape-shifting Loki, bound by the gods with the bowels of his son Vali, as told in the Lokasenna. In the story, Loki's other son, Narfi, Wass turned into a wolf. The pendant could thus represent the containment of chaos.

This examples is very similar to the pendants found Träslöv, Halland, Sweden, now in the Historiska Musset, Stockholm (867720, 867721, 867724): https://gelmir.com/compendium_item/traslov-pendants/


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