Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana. Supplementum - 01.08.1967, Page 148

148
classical acanthus vine ever occurred in Icelandic woodwork in anything like its pure form. The most
complex type, the «Germanically stamped vine», cut across, intertwined, and pierced, and with the tendrils
often interspersed with animal or human figures, was apparently the commonest in Iceland. One also
frequently finds examples of the fourth type ofvine,the«simple,schematic,moreByzantine»type,whichwas
the plainest of them all. It is not unlikely that the third main category, the late Romanesque flower acanthus,
also occurred, for instance on stave church portals as in Norway, but no certain examples have been preserved.
The Laufás and Mælifell vines were placed in the «Germanic» category; vines in «Icelandic style» must
be regarded as another variant of this.
Two types of vine are met with that do not fit into any of the four main categories: a single and a double
stem having a palmet in each undulation or medallion. Both occur on the Grund chairs and occasionally later.
It is difficult to determine the origin of the numerous vines from more modern times that closely
resemble the «Germanic» but have no intersections. (Successors of the classical type ? Renaissance in-
fluence ?)
With the aid of drawings (figs. 393-420), the author considers the courses of the stems alone. The
drawings indicate each stem as a single line in order to make it easier to compare vines from different
periods. Regular undulations of the main stems is usual, but occasionally they form Vitruvian scrolls
instead (the Laufás and Mælifell vines). A third way of extending the vine is to let a stem from within one
spiral form the next spiral(the vines round the initial I in Guðbrandur Þorláksson’sBible,some carved vines).
How interwoven a vine is depends on the number of subsidiary branches and on their courses. Some of
the carved fields on the five Eyjafjörður cupboards (seventeenth century, figs. 407, 408) contain the most
intertwined vines in preserved woodwork since the time of the Hrafnagil fragments.
Guðmundur Guðmundsson(seventeenth century) was an innovator also with regard to plant design. Where
his undulating \ ines are intersected, the stem that constitutes the main spiral in the undulation isnotbrought
from inside it, but begins on the outside of the crest of the wave, so that it must cross the main stem in
order to enter the wave and fill it with its leaf (figs. 409, 410). There are also numerous later examples of
this «Guðmundur-method».
A chronological study limited to leaf forms alone further confirms that certain details were incredibly
long-lived, and that we have a wealth of forms to deal with (e. g. figs. 421-435).
The three-lobed leaf was important from the time of the Hrafnagil fragments onwards, and can be divid-
ed into several main types. Leaves with more than three lobes have also been very common at all times,
while two-lobed leaves are very rare. In the plant ornamentation which was influenced by the auricular
style the divided leaf was largely replaced by a single volute or simply by a broad little hook or tongue,
rounded and fluted. Apart from these, leaves with only a single lobe hardly occur at all.
Even in the most naturalistic plant ornamentation, the wood-carvers did not imitate their own Icelandic
plants. On the other hand, older works seem to have been an inexhaustible source of inspiration.
Whether one considers the ornaments as wholes or the separate parts of plants individually, strong
conservatism is apparent. It led to many stylistic anachronisms, but was a natural result of geographical
and historical conditions.
The influence of urban art (art in Copenhagen) fluctuated. It never made itself more strongly felt than
in the eighteenth century.
The quality of the artefacts varied a great deal, but works of great artistic value were not rare. Clearly
Iceland has fostered many talented executors of the «art of the hand», though the names of the majority
have been forgotten.