Árbók Hins íslenzka fornleifafélags - 01.01.1993, Page 103

STÓLL ARA JÓNSSONAR
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SUMMARY
After an article in Árbók 1980, devoted to the omate wooden chair from Grund in Eyja-
fjörður, owned by the National Museum of Iceland, the author here turns to its pendant,
which since 1843 has belonged to the National Museum of Denmark, where it has the num-
ber 7726. The middle of the front of this chair carries the monogram of Ari Jónsson, justiciary
(d. 1550), with A and I merging, the I an ornamental version of the rune ýr. Roundels with a
rose of winds and a Greek cross, occurring in St. Mark's in Venice, flank the monogram on
either side, another rose of winds may be seen at the right side of base. Ari Jónsson was
brother-in-law of Rafn Brandsson, justiciary (d. 1528), whose monogram on the chair in Ice-
land proves him to be its owner. There is a strong likelihood that Ari Jónsson made both the
chairs. In St. Mark's a sculptural item shows a chair of this kind and an x-cross. There are
five x-crosses with human heads on vertical slats in the back of the chair owned by Ari. This
chair in Denmark is slightly bigger than the other and shares i.a. stylistic characteristics.
Byzantine details can be seen on both and much links them with the famous throne of
Maximian in Ravenna. Elements of Anglo-Saxon art are observable. On the chair in Denmark
there is a carving showing the hooded figure of a man facing a dragon. This is probably
Jonah, the dragon being meant to symbolize a whale or fish. Motifs on the rear uprights seem
to relate to beings associated with vegetation and harvest in traditional German folk belief. A
figurine topping the front upright at left probably represents King David playing his harp
while the figurine on the opposite upright may show a man in a tree during Christ's entry
into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. Some features could mirror old feasts and baking customs.
The dragon ornaments topping the chair in Iceland at the rear seem to have to do with a
story in Fornaldarsögur Norðurlanda and with a parallel story in Saxo's Gesta Danorum.
Two authors have maintained that the decoration contains portraits of Jón Arason, Bishop of
Hólar, and his family. Much speaks for this. A pair of intertwined trees, carved twice, on the
upper transversal panel of the back, resemble the rune ingwaz, which is associated with the
god Yngvi-Freyr. This tree motif, known in simplified form in old German furniture, is on
the throne of King David on an ancient carved diptych at Monza in Italy.