- Museum number
- 1938,0202.1
- Description
-
Ship's figurehead of carved oak. The terminal is an animal head in the round, with gaping beak-like jaws and prominent teeth and eyes. Long oval-section stem, deeply carved all over with lozenge-shaped lattice-work, with a plain flat rib at front and back; tenon projecting from the base, perforated for fastening peg.
- Production date
- 4thC(late)-5thC
- Dimensions
-
Height: 149 centimetres
- Curator's comments
-
Comment from Kidd, Haith & Ager ‘Summary Catalogue’ (draft MS)
4th-6th century, late provincial Roman or Germanic; Carbon 14 analysis at British Museum Research Laboratory (BM 476) yielded result of 1550 +/ 105 BP (Barker et al. 1971 below), recalibrated as AD 400-615 at one standard deviation, but piece continues to be widely published as of Viking Age date.
Provenance:
Near Appels near Termonde (Dender-monde), Oost Vlaanderen, Belgium; found during dredging operations in River Schelde, upstream from Appels opposite Bac (Bruce Mitford 1974, p. 186 note 1). De Laet corrects Kendrick 1938, and gives 1934 as the date of discovery. Elmers 1972 says other timbers were found.
Purchased from Dr H. Burg, with aid of the National Art Collections Fund and the Christy Trust.
Published:
KENDRICK T.D. 1938. A Viking Figure-head from the Scheldt, British Museum Quarterly XII for 1937-1938, London, pp. 73-4, pl. XXVI
ILLUSTRATED LONDON NEWS, 19th February 1938. London, p. 307
NACF REPORT. 1938. A Viking Figure-Head from the Scheldt, National Art-Collections Fund 35th Annual Report 1938, London, p. 31 no. 1096
PAULSEN P. 1939. Stevenverzierung eines Wikingerschiffes aus der Schelde bei Termonde, Germanien for 1939, part 9, Berlin, pp. 386-90, figs. 2 and 7
NERMAN B. 1942. Skeppsstäven från Termonde i Belgien, Fornvännen 37, Stockholm pp. 64-6, figs. 1 and 2
DE LAET S.J. 1956. Wooden Animal Heads of Carolingian Times Found in the River Scheldt (Belgium), Acta Arch XXVII, Copenhagen, pp. 128-31, 133, 136, figs. 1 map, 2
OXENSTIERNA E. 1957. Die Nordgermanen. Stuttgart, p. 128, pl. 104
OXENSTIERNA E. 1959. Die Wikinger. Stuttgart, pl. 6 right
LACHLER and WIRZ 1962, p. 53, pl. 36 (Untraced reference)
YANAGI M. (ed) 1966. Sekai no Bijutsukan 4 The British Museum II. Tokyo, pl. 83
BRUCE-MITFORD R.L.S. 1967. A New Wooden Ship's Figure-head found in the Scheldt, at Moerzeke-Mariekerke, Acta Archaeologica XXXVIII, Copenhagen, pp. 200, 205-9, figs. 6a, 7 map
BRUCE-MITFORD R.L.S. 1968. Exhibits at Ballots 3. A Ship's Figure-head from the River Scheldt, Antiquaries Journal XLVIII, London, p. 307
CLARK K. 1969. Civilisation. A Personal View. London, pl. I
BRUCE-MITFORD R.L.S. 1970. Ships' Figure-heads in the Migration Period and Early Middle Ages, Antiquity XLIV, no. 174, London, pp. 146-8, fig. 1b
BARKER H. et al 1971. British Museum Natural Radiocarbon Measurements VII, Radiocarbon 13, no. 2, New Haven, pp. 157-8
VAN REGTEREN ALTENA H.H. et al. 1971. De Vikingen in de Lage Landen getoetst aan de Danelaw, Universiteit van Amsterdam Instituut Voor Prae- en Protohistorie, Working Paper I. Amsterdam, pp. 57-66
JONES G. 1973. A History of the Vikings. London pl. 2
ELMERS D. 1972. Frühmittelalterliche Handelsschiffahrt in Mittel- und Nord Europa, Offa Bücher 28. Neumünster, pp. 288-9 no. 36, fig. 184b
BRUCE-MITFORD R.L.S. 1974. Aspects of Anglo-Saxon Archaeology, Sutton Hoo and Other Discoveries. London, pp. 175-87, pls. 33-8
NORTON P. 1976. Ships' Figureheads. London, pp. 35-6, pl. 20;
ELMERS D. 1978. Die Schiffe der Angelsachsen, in C. Ahrens (ed) Sachsen und Angelsachsen, Ausstellung des Helms Museums, Hamburgisches Museum für Vor- und Frühgeschichte Veröffentlichungen 32, Hamburg, pp. 503-4, 687 no. 457 replica, fig. 8 centre
CAPELLE T. 1980. Holzschnitzkunst vor der Wikingerzeit, Offa-Ergänzungsreihe 3. Neumünster, p. 55, fig. 47
PENDLESONN K.R.G. 1980. The Vikings. London, p. 14 plate
HAASUM S. 1981. Stävprydnader, in L. Thunmark-Nylén (ed) Vikingatidens ABC, Stockholm, p. 259
PÉRIN P. and FEFFER L.-C. 1987. Les Francs, 1, A la conquête de la Gaule. Paris, p. 33 fig. centre
KIDD D.S.W. 1988. Fifty Years on. New Discoveries about an NACF Grant of 1938, National Art-Collections Fund Magazine 38, London, pp. 8-10, with figs.
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The 2002 gallery label included an image of a late-3rd-century medallion of Constantius Chlorus, showing a Roman boat with a similar animal figurehead, and the text went on to say, “Illustrations of Roman ships, such as the one illustrated on the right, depict similar monstrous heads. This example may have been made by Gallo-Roman craftsmen, by Germanic craftsmen settled in northern Gaul (now Belgium) and employed by the Romans, or by Germans who were influenced by Gallo-Roman boat-building traditions. It is uncertain which.”
N.B. The recalibrated date of 400-615 quoted above has only a 68% probability at one standard deviation. At two standard deviations and with a probability of 95% the dating falls between 250-665 (Kidd, D., 1988, 'Fifty years on. New discoveries about an NACF Grant of 1938', "NACF Magazine", 38, 8-10).
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VAN DOORSELAER, A. and ROGGE, M., 1991, 'Spätrömische und völkerwanderungszeitliche handgefertigte Keramik im Gebiet zwischen Scheldetal und Nordseeküste - Late Roman and Migration Period hand-made pottery from the area between the Scheldt and the North Sea', "Studien zur Sachsenforschung", 7, 113-120, at p. 115.
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MARZINZIK 2013, no. 9.
- Location
- On display (G41/dc10)
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
2003 23 Oct-2004 18 Jan, London, Hayward Gallery, Saved! 100 Years of the National Art Collections Fund
- Acquisition date
- 1938
- Department
- Britain, Europe and Prehistory
- Registration number
- 1938,0202.1
