Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana. Supplementum - 01.06.2000, Page 50

SUMMARY CHAP. II
filling the spaces around them; 2) in specifically
decorative fields.
On four of the horns the figures are framed
with architectural motifs, consisting of arches
on columns or pilasters. The figures are surely
to be regarded as occupying positions of
honour under canopies. The motifs are without
doubt borrowed from book art which shows a
great affinity for canopies. The canopies on the
St Nicholas Horn have several features from
Gothic architecture (figs 4-5), while on three
other horns they are dominated more by trail-
ing foliage and ribbon borders than by archi-
tectural features (figs 11,14,15,19, 29).
The canopies on the St Nicholas Horn never-
theless contain the best examples of typical
Icelandic foliage. Gables with crockets and
finials are fashioned as stalks and stems ending
in trifoliate leaves with a broad, rounded cen-
tral lobe between two smaller pointed leaflets.
They are usually found in running vine scrolls
and spirals, known as "Icelandic Style" vine-
scrolls or the "basic element of Icelandic decora-
tion". It is a special type of Romanesque foliage
decoration which was widely used in English
and continental illuminated manuscripts in the
12th century and later. It was very common
in Icelandic illuminated manuscripts and con-
tinued well into recent times in textile art and
wood carving.
On three horns the figures are framed with
linked rings or ring-chains (figs 6, 8,9,41-51). A
softer motif separating figures is the "tree" on
the Velken Horn between Mary in the
Crucifixion scene and the standing St Olaf (fig
37), and the foliage between John in the
Crucifixion scene and St Michael slaying the
dragon (fig 35, left) has the same effect.
The decoration in the purely ornamental
fields is mostly found in bands running round
the horns. It consists of trailing foliage, geomet-
ric (ribbon) patterns or ornamental inscriptions.
Decorative bands of foliage are found on most
of the horns (figs 3, 6, 11, 38-40). On the St
Michael Horn a broad zone is filled with foliage
decoration instead of figurative scenes (fig 32),
presenting a fine example of the "Icelandic
Style" with its spiral vine-scrolls and numerous
small trefoil leaves. It also has palmettes with
many segments.
The "ribbon-wrapped stem" in the top and
bottom bands of decoration on the Trinity Horn
is a combination of vine-scroll and ribbonwork
r\ s- (figs 13-15), and some of the narrow fields in
ó D the decorative band around the Velken Horn
are similar (figs 38-40). Books of Hours printed
in Paris at the beginning of the sixteenth centu-
ry contain narrow borders very closely related
both to these and to one of the borders on the
Trinity Horn (see fig 17). A combination of rib-
bonwork and foliage decoration is also found
on the St Michael Horn (fig 31).
Pure interlace ribbon motifs of a kind that
belonged to the Romanesque repertoire and
had roots even earlier are found on the Trinity
Horn and the St Michael Horn (figs 21, 26-28).
The Horn showing Christ bearing the Cross
and the Bishop's Horn both have a band of
wide ribbon knots around the lower part (figs
41 & 46), while the Bishop's Horn also has a
number of narrower ribbon borders. Narrow
borders of various kinds were widely used.
Eight of the nine medieval drinking horns
carry inscriptions. Two of them are just simple
incised inscriptions in Gothic lettering, but six
of them have inscriptions that can be described
as decorative. Three different types of lettering
occur, all in low relief: "bandletur" [ribbon
script] and "höfðaletur" based on Gothic minus-
cules, and "munkaletur" [monastic script],
using a type of Gothic majuscules. The ribbon
script, which looks as if it is formed from cur-
ved and folded ribbons, is found on the St
Nicholas Horn (figs 4-5) and in a slightly diffe-
rent form on three lines running along the Horn
showing Christ bearing the Cross (figs 41, 45).
"Höfðaletur", that peculiarly Icelandic script
which was used in carvings for several centuries
and which was also used in metal working, may
be a development of the "ribbon script". A rela-
tively early example is found on one of the
bands on the "Trinity Horn" (figs 14 & 15), where
the letters to a large extent are used decoratively.
Two parallel ribbons are threaded through the
letters in the proper entrelac manner. The
inscription on the St Michael Hom is of the same
type, but without the interlaced ribbon (best
seen on fig 31 - the inscription on the mouth-
piece mount is a later copy). The Velken Horn
also has a line of höfðaletur running around the
lower part of the hom (fig 33). These inscriptions
are quite legible, whereas later inscriptions in
höfðaletur are often difficult to interpret.
Monastic script is found on the Bishop's
Horn figs 46, 48) and at the top of the Horn
showing Christ bearing the Cross (fig 41). This
script also continued in use for a long time in
Icelandic carving, but was not as widespread as
the höfðaletur.