Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T17:24:44.420Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

THE CAROLINGIAN CUP FROM THE VALE OF YORK VIKING HOARD: ORIGINS OF ITS FORM AND DECORATIVE FEATURES

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 May 2020

Barry Ager
Barry Ager*
Affiliation:
35 Hillside Gardens, WallingtonSM6 9NX, UK. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In 2007, near Harrogate, in North Yorkshire, a Viking-period hoard was discovered with a Carolingian silver-gilt cup. This article examines this cup, highlighting Oriental, Central Asian and classical parallels in both metal and pottery for the cup’s form and decoration. The overall significance of the cup’s iconography has already been thoroughly discussed by Professor Egon Wamers, who proposed that the scenes on the cup are paralleled in the early ninth-century Stuttgart Psalter. This article proposes that Oriental forms and decorative elements in metalwork were channelled to the West through diplomatic contacts and trade by way of a complex of routes by land and sea, as well as possibly by refugees from Islamic conquests.

Keywords

ByzantineSasanianpost-SasanianSogdianAbbasidsilverwaretrade routesiconography
Type
Research paper
Information
The Antiquaries Journal , Volume 100 , September 2020 , pp. 86 - 108
Copyright
© The Society of Antiquaries of London, 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Abramson, T (ed) 2011. Studies in Early Medieval Coinage. Vol 2: new perspectives, Blackwell Publishing, Woodbridge Google Scholar
Ager, B 2011. ‘A preliminary note on the artefacts from the Vale of York Viking Hoard’, in Abramson 2011, 121–34Google Scholar
Ager, B and Williams, G 2011. ‘The Vale of York Viking Hoard: preliminary catalogue’, in Abramson 2011, 135–45Google Scholar
Anon 2014. ‘A potted history of Viking Scotland’, Current Arch, 25(9), 6–7Google Scholar
Artamanov, M (ed) 1974. The Dawn of Art: Palaeolithic, Neolithic, Bronze Age and Iron Age remains found in the territory of the Soviet Union, Aurora Art, Leningrad Google Scholar
Aspelin, J R 1877. Antiquités du Nord Finno-Ougrien. Vol 2: l’âge du fer, Antiquités permiennes, G W Eklund, Helsinki Google Scholar
Babelon, M E 1897. Fondation Eugène Piot : catalogue des Camées Antiques et Modernes de la Bibliothèque Nationale, Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris Google Scholar
Bálint, C (ed) 2000. Kontakte zwischen Iran, Byzanz und der Steppe im 6.–7. Jahrhundert, Varia Archaeologica Hungarica 10, Budapest Google Scholar
Bank, A 1985. Byzantine Art in the Collections of Soviet Museums, 3rd edn, Aurora Art, Leningrad Google Scholar
Battiscombe, C F 1956. The Relics of Saint Cuthbert: studies by various authors collected and edited, with an historical introduction, Oxford University Press, Oxford Google Scholar
Brøndsted, J 1924. Early English Ornament: the sources, development and relation to foreign styles of pre-Norman ornamental art in England, Hachette, London Google Scholar
Brook, K A 2010. The Jews of Khazaria, 2nd edn, Roman & Littlefield, Lanham, MD Google Scholar
Callmer, J 2013. ‘At the watershed between the Baltic and the Pontic before Gnezdovo’, in L Bjerg, Lind, J H and Sindbæk, S M (eds), From Goths to Varangians: communication and cultural exchange between the Baltic and the Black Sea, 39–85, Aarhus University Press, Aarhus Google Scholar
Chéhab, M H 1957. Mosaïques du Liban, Bulletin du Musée de Beyrouth 14, ParisGoogle Scholar
Cosh, S R and Neal, D S 2005. Roman Mosaics of Britain. Vol 2: South-West Britain, Society of Antiquaries of London, London Google Scholar
Cottevieille-Giraudet, R 1938. ‘Coupes et camée sassanides du Cabinet de France’, Revue des Arts Asiatiques, 12, 52–64Google Scholar
Curle, A O 1923. The Treasure of Traprain: a Scottish hoard of Roman silver plate, Maclehose, Jackson and Co, Glasgow Google Scholar
Curley, M J 2009. Physiologus: a medieval book of nature lore, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Curtis, J 2000. Ancient Persia, British Museum Press, London Google Scholar
Dalton, O M 1909. ‘On a silver bowl and cover of the ninth or tenth century’, Archaeologia, 61, 357–60CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dalton, O M 1911. Byzantine Art and Archaeology, Clarendon Press, Oxford CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dalton, O M 1922. ‘Late Sassanian silver dish’, Burlington Mag, 40, 69–70Google Scholar
Darkevich, V P 1976. Hudožestvennyj Metall Vostoka VIII–XIII vv: proizvedeniâ vostočnoj torevtiki na territorii evropejskoj časti SSSR i Zaural’â, Izdatel’stvo ‘Nauka’, Moscow Google Scholar
Fraenkel-Schoorl, N 1978. ‘Carolingian jewellery with plant ornament’, Berichten van de Rijksdienst voor het Oudheidkundig Bodemonderzoek, 28, 345–97Google Scholar
Gaborit-Chopin, D 1991. ‘Tasse de Salomon’, in Le Trésor de Saint Denis, (exhibition catalogue) Musée du Louvre, 12 mars–17 juin 1991, Paris, 80–82, no. 10Google Scholar
Garam, É (ed) 2002. The Gold of the Avars: the Nagyszentmiklós Treasure, Magyar Nemzeti Múzeum, Budapest Google Scholar
Grabar, A 1968. L’Art de la Fin de l’Antiquité et du Moyen Âge : vol 1, Collège de France, Paris Google Scholar
Grabar, O 1971. ‘Sasanian and Islamic art through the ages’, Apollo, 93, 255–63Google Scholar
Graham-Campbell, J 1980. Viking Artefacts: a select catalogue, British Museum Press, London Google Scholar
Graham-Campbell, J 2017. ‘The Galloway (2014) Viking Hoard: some preliminary observations’, in Biggam, C, Hough, C and Izdebska, D (eds), The Daily Lives of the Anglo-Saxons, Essays Anglo-Saxon Stud 8, 99–117, Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Tempe, AZ Google Scholar
Gyllensvärd, B 2004. ‘The Buddha found at Helgö’, in Clarke, H and Lamm, K (eds), Excavations at Helgö. Vol XV: exotic and sacral finds from Helgö, 11–27, Kungl. Vitterhets Historie och Antikvitets Akademien, Stockholm Google Scholar
Hansen, V 2012. The Silk Road: a new history, Oxford University Press, New York Google Scholar
Hårdh, B 2007. ‘Oriental–Scandinavian contacts on the Volga, as manifested by silver rings and weight systems’, in Graham-Campbell, J and Williams, G (eds) 2007, Silver Economy in the Viking Age, 135–47, Left Coast Press, Walnut Creek, CA Google Scholar
Harper, P O 1981. Silver Vessels of the Sasanian Period. Vol 1: royal imagery, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Google Scholar
Harris, J (ed) 2010. 5000 Years of Textiles, British Museum Press, London Google Scholar
Hartley, E, Hawkes, J, Henig, M and Mee, F (eds) 2006. Constantine the Great: York’s Roman emperor, York Museums and Gallery Trust, York Google Scholar
Heather, P J 2013. The Restoration of Rome: barbarian popes and imperial pretenders, Pan Macmillan, London Google Scholar
Heck, G W 2006. Charlemagne, Muhammad and the Arab Roots of Capitalism, Studien zur Geschichte und Kultur des islamischen Orients n.F. 18, De Gruyter, Berlin CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hernández Juberías, J 1996. La Península Imaginaria: mitos y leyendas sobre al-Andalus, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Madrid Google Scholar
Innes, M 1997. ‘Charlemagne’s will: piety, politics and the imperial succession’, English Hist Rev, 112, 833–55CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jenkins, D (ed) 2003. The Cambridge History of Western Textiles: I, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge Google Scholar
Leclercq-Marx, J 2007. ‘L’imitation des tissus “orientaux” dans l’art du Haut Moyen Âge et de l’époque romane: témoignages et problématiques’, in Quintavalle, A C (ed), Medioevo mediterraneo: l’Occidente, Bisanzio e l’Islam, Atti del Convegno internazionale di studi, Parma, 21–25 settembre 2004, 456–69, Centro Studi Medievali, Università degli Studi di Parma, Parma Google Scholar
Lecouteux, C 2011 (English trans). Phantom Armies of the Night: the Wild Hunt and ghostly processions of the undead, Inner Traditions, Rochester, VT Google Scholar
Lennartsson, M 1999. ‘Karolingische Metallarbeiten mit Pflanzen-ornamentik’, Offa, 54–5, 431–619Google Scholar
Mango, M M 2000. ‘Byzantine, Sasanian and Central Asian silver’, in C Bálint 2000, 267–84Google Scholar
Mango, M M 2009. ‘Tracking Byzantine silver and copper metalware, 4th–12th centuries’, in Mango, (ed), Byzantine Trade, 4th–12th Centuries: the archaeology of local, regional and international exchange, 221–36, Soc Promotion Byzantine Stud 14, Routledge, Oxford Google Scholar
Marschak, B I 1986. Silberschätze des Orients: Metallkunst des 3.–13. Jahrhunderts und ihre Kontinuität, Seemann, Leipzig Google Scholar
Mikkelsen, E 2002. ‘Handel – misjon – religionsmøter: impulser fra buddhisme, islam og kristendom i Norden 500–1000 e. Kr.’, Viking, 65, 91–136Google Scholar
Muthesius, A 1997. Byzantine Silk Weaving: AD 400 to AD 1200, Fassbaender, Vienna Google Scholar
Neal, D S 1981. Roman Mosaics in Britain: an introduction to their schemes and a catalogue of painting s, Britannia mono ser 1, Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies, London Google Scholar
Neal, D S and Cosh, S R 2002. Roman Mosaics of Britain. Vol 1: northern Britain incorporating the Midlands and East Anglia, Society of Antiquaries of London, London Google Scholar
Noonan, T S 2000. ‘The Fur Road and the Silk Road: the relations between Central Asia and Northern Russia in the Early Middle Ages’, in C Bálint 2000, 285–301Google Scholar
Odobesco, A 1889. Le Trésor de Pétrossa : historique-description, étude sur l’orfèvrerie antique, 1, ParisGoogle Scholar
Owen, O 2015. ‘Galloway’s Viking treasure : the story of a discovery’, British Arch, 140, 16–23Google Scholar
Pentz, P, Baastrup, M P, Karg, S and Mannering, U 2009. ‘Kong Haralds vølve’, Nationalmuseets Arbejdsmark, 2009, 215–32Google Scholar
Petersson, G 1958. ‘Ett gravfynd från Klinta, Köpings sn, Öland’, Tor, 4, 134–50Google Scholar
Read, H and Tonnochy, A B 1928. Catalogue of the Silver Plate, Mediaeval and Later, Bequeathed to the British Museum by Sir Augustus Wollaston Franks, KCB, British Museum Press, London Google Scholar
Rock, D 1870. Textile Fabrics: a descriptive catalogue of the collection of church-vestments, dresses, silk stuffs, needlework and tapestries, forming that section of the museum, South Kensington Museum, London Google Scholar
Roesdahl, E 1977. Fyrkat: en jysk vikingeborg. Vol 2: oldsagerne og gravpladsen, Det Kgl. nordiske Oldskriftselskab, i kommission hos Lynge, Copenhagen Google Scholar
Ross, M C 1962. Catalogue of the Byzantine and Early Mediaeval Antiquities in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection. Vol 1: metalwork, ceramics, glass, glyptics, painting, Dumbarton Oaks Museum, Washington DC Google Scholar
Sarre, F 1922. Die Kunst des Alten Persien , Die Kunst des Ostens 5, B Cassirer, Berlin Google Scholar
Scholz, B W 1970. Carolingian Chronicles: royal Frankish annals and Nithard’s Histories, University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, MI CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schulze-Dörrlamm, M 2010. ‘Bemerkungen zu den jüngsten Elementen des Schatzes von Nagyszentmiklós und zum Zeitpunkt seiner Deponierung’, Antaeus, 31–2, 127–42Google Scholar
Shetelig, H (ed) 1940. Viking Antiquities in England: with a supplement on the Viking antiquities in the continent of western Europe, Viking Antiquities in Great Britain and Ireland 4, H Aschehoug & Co, Oslo Google Scholar
Skubiszewski, P 1965. Czara włocławska. Studia nad spuścizną Wschodu w sztuce wczesnego średniowiecza, Poznańskie Towarzystwo Przyaciół Nauk, Poznań Google Scholar
Skubiszewski, P 2006a. ‘Über die »Grenzen« in der Frühmittelalterforschung. Der »Becher« von Włocławek’, in Bernhardt, K and Piotrowski, P (eds), Grenzen überwindend: Festschrift für Adam S. Labuda zum 60. Geburtstag, 181–98, Lukas, BerlinGoogle Scholar
Skubiszewski, P 2006b. ‘Jeszcze o czarze Włocławskiej. Uwagi po czterdziestu latach’, in Chrościcki, J A, Grzybkowska, T, Grzybkowski, A, Malkiewicz, A, Milewska, W and Talbierska, J (eds), Arma Virumque Cano: Profesorowi Zdzisławowi Żygulskiemu jun. w osiemdziesięciopięciolecie urodzin, 115–32, Muzeum Narodowe w Krakowie, Crakow Google Scholar
Smirnov, Y I 1909. Vostočnoe Serebro: atlas’ drevnej serebrânoj i zolotoj posudy vostočnago proishoždenìâ najdennoj preimuⓢestvenno v” predělah” Rossijskoj Imperìi, Izdanìe Imperatorskoje Arheologičeskoj Kommissìi, St Petersburg Google Scholar
Steuer, H 2014. ‘Mittelasien und der wikingerzeitliche Norden’, in K P Hofmann, Kamp, H and Wemhoff, M (eds), Die Wikinger und das Fränkische Reich: Identitäten zwischen Konfrontation und Annäherung, 217–38, Wilhelm Fink, Paderborn Google Scholar
Stiegemann, C, Kroker, M and Walter, W (eds) 2013. Credo: Christianisierung Europas im Mittelalter , 2 vols, Michael Imhof Verlag, Petersberg Google Scholar
Trever, K V and Lukonin, V G 1987. Sasanidskoe Serebro: hudožestvennaâ kul’tura Irana III–VIII vekov, Iskusstvo, Moscow Google Scholar
Vedeler, M 2014. Silk for the Vikings, Ancient Textiles Ser 15, Oxbow Books, Oxford CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vikan, G 1995. Catalogue of the Sculpture in the Dumbarton Oaks Collection from the Ptolemaic Period to the Renaissance, Dumbarton Oaks Museum, Washington DC Google Scholar
Volbach, W F 1969 (trans Y Gabriel). Early Decorative Textiles, Hamlyn, London Google Scholar
Wamers, E 1990. ‘Karolingische Silberbecher – Ein Beispiel sakraler Goldschmiedekunst’, European Jeweler, 88(12), 28–31Google Scholar
Wamers, E 1991. ‘Pyxides imaginatae: zur Ikonographie und Funktion karolingischer Silberbecher’, Germania, 69, 97–152Google Scholar
Wamers, E 2005. Die Macht des Silbers: karolingische Schätze im Norden, Schnell und Steiner, Regensburg Google Scholar
Wamers, E 2011. ‘The Halton Moor Cup and the Carolingian metalwork in the Cuerdale Hoard’, in Graham-Campbell, J 2011, The Cuerdale Hoard and Related Viking-Age Silver and Gold from Britain and Ireland in the British Museum, British Mus Res Publi 85, 133–9, British Museum Press, London Google Scholar
Wamers, E 2013a. ‘Vom Pfahlidol zum Kruzifix: sakrale Bildmotive des ersten Jahrtausends’, in Stiegemann et al 2013, vol 1, 94–110Google Scholar
Wamers, E 2013b. ‘Schatzfund aus Ribe’, in Stiegemann et al 2013, vol 2, 320–1Google Scholar
Wamers, 2015. ‘locus amoenus. »Becher 19« im Kontext der kontinentalen Kunst des 8. und 9. Jahrhunderts’, in Daim, F, Gschwantler, K, Plattner, G and Stadler, P (eds), Der Goldschatz von Sânnicolau Mare (Ungarisch: Nagyszentmiklós)/The Treasure of Sânnicolau Mare (Hungarian: Nagyszentmiklós), RGZM – Tagungen Bd. 25, 71–119, Römisch-Germanisches Zentralmuseum, Mainz Google Scholar
Webster, L 2012. Anglo-Saxon Art: a new history, British Museum Press, London Google Scholar
Webster, L 2015. ‘The art of Alfred and his times’, in Discenza, N G and Szarmach, P E (eds), A Companion to Alfred the Great, 47–81, Brill, Leiden Google Scholar
Weiss, H (ed) 1985. Ebla to Damascus: art and archaeology of ancient Syria, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC Google Scholar
Wieczorek, A and Hinz, H-M (eds) 2000. Europas Mitte um 1000. Exhibition catalogue, Council of Europe, Theiss, Stuttgart Google Scholar
Williams, G and Ager, B M 2009. ‘Vale of York, North Yorkshire: silver-gilt cup with a gold arm-ring, five silver arm-rings, 62 further pieces of hack-silver, 617 coins and a fragmented lead sheet cover or container’, in Portable Antiquities and Treasure Annual Report 2007, 112–4, no. 217, fig 217, Dept of Portable Antiquities and Treasure, British Museum, London Google Scholar
Williams, G and Ager, B 2015 (revised reprint). The Vale of York Hoard, British Museum Press, London Google Scholar
Williams, G, Pentz, P and Wemhoff, M (eds) 2014. Vikings: life and legend, British Museum Press, London Google Scholar
Wilson, D M 1960. ‘The Fejø cup’, Acta Archaeologica, 31, 147–73Google Scholar
Woodruff, H 1930. ‘The Physiologus of Bern’, The Art Bull, 12(3), 226–53Google Scholar
Zapora, A 2009. Czara włocławska: 100 lat Muzeum Ziemi Kujawskiej i Dobrzyńskiej we Włocławku, Muzeum Narodowe w Krakowie, Cracow Google Scholar
Supplementary material: PDF

Ager supplementary material

Ager supplementary material

Download Ager supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 217.5 KB