Árbók Hins íslenzka fornleifafélags - 01.01.1980, Page 96

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ÁRBÓK FORNLEIFAFÉLAGSINS
Skýrsla um Forngripasafn íslands i Reykjavík, I., 1868.
Völsunga saga, Fornaldarsögur Norðurlanda, I., útg. Guðna Jónssonar.
Yfir alda haf, Sigurður Ólason.
SUMMARY
The author treats details on the ornately carved chair from Grund in Eyjafjörður, no. 10925
among objects in the National Museum of Iceland. A similar chair, also from Grund, is in
possession of the National Museum of Denmark. Both count among the finest known examples
of old Icelandic wood carving. They are of birch mostly, with uprights at all four corners and, in
the lower half, a box which reaches almost down to ground. The style is Romanesque but ties with
Viking and Gothic art are obvious. On the chair of the National Museum of Iceland there may be
seen at the front side, between two rows with signs of the Zodiac, a panel with a curious mono-
gram carved on it. A naked man holding up to his mouth a blowing horn and a tree which winds
around him make up the letters R and B. There can be little doubt that this proves as owner of the
chair the justiciary Rafn Brandsson who became in 1526 the first husband of Þórunn Jónsdóttir
and died shortly afterwards, in 1528, from wounds received in a duel at Glaumbær in Skagafjörð-
ur. The runic inscription on top of the back, possibly complete, must be an addition. The family
of Rafn Brandsson was believed to descend from Sigurður Fáfnisbani, which may account for the
prominence given to dragons in the carving and the figure for R in the monogram, perhaps
intended to show a member in the retinue of Óðinn, ancestor of all the Völsungs. On the Grund
chair in Denmark appears the runic inscription or: ARIE. This can be read as ARI, i.e. Ari
Jónsson, justiciary (t 1550), followed by E, this last letter standing for erexit, i.e. raised, made,
etc. Ari, whose monogram is carved on the front, was son of Jón Arason. In all probability he has
himself carved this chair. It is also quite likely that he is the craftsman who made Rafn Brands- *
son’s chair.