Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana. Supplementum - 01.06.2000, Page 81

SUMMARY CHAP. IV
SUMMARY
The chronological sequence of this presentation
is interrupted slightly by taking the work
of Brynjólfiir Jónsson on its own. He is the only
Icelandic horn carver we know by name.
He was a farmer at Skarð at Land in
Rangárvallasýsla in southern Iceland from
around 1600.
Brynjólfur is mostly known by some carved
panels in whale bone from the church at Skarð
(figs 64-66). A carved fragment by the same
hand (fig 67) was found on the farm of
Klausturhólar in Árnessýsla further west and
four carved drinking horns have also survived
(figs 68, 74, 77, 81). Most of his work contains
figurative scenes from the Bible.
The panels from Skarð church may be part of
an extensive decorative work which possibly
included the front of the pulpit. The largest
panel (fig 64) includes Jesus on the Cross sur-
rounded by Angels, the Throne of Grace, the
Last Judgement, Agnus Dei, the Ascension,
Christ in the Tomb, the Resurrection, and the
Descent from the Cross.
A smaller panel, which is made up of several
pieces (fig 65), has, at the top, the Nativity,
Simeon and Anna with the infant Jesus in the
Temple, and the Baptism of Jesus; and below,
the Circumcision, and Jesus Blessing the
Infants. On the four ribs in the centre are shown
the story of Herod's Feast and the Death of John
the Baptist. All the scenes are explained with
the help of inscriptions, mostly in höfðaletur,
but at the bottom the year 1606 is incised. The
panel also has traces of polychrome painting.
The third panel from Skarð shows the Night
of the Nativity (fig 66). The stable at Bethlehem
is symbolised by a canopy above Mary with the
chiíd in front of the crib with the ox and ass.
Sheep, shepherds and angels are also shown.
The fragment from Klausturhólar shows part
of a crowd of people, presumably also from a
biblical event (fig 67). The figures are very remi-
niscent of the shepherds on the small panel
from Skarð. The costumes are in Renaissance
style.
Brynjólfur's figures are vernacular in style,
and he has also made untraditional use of archi-
tectural motifs (canopies), ribbon ornament,
and trailing foliage. Only the scenes on the ribs
of the composite panel (fig 65) seem to have any
relationship with a "correct" model.
It has long been known that the whale bone
panels were carved by Brynjólfur Jónsson. That
he was also responsible for the four drinking
horns can now be concluded by comparing the
figures and the form of the letters in the inscrip-
tions
The Cana Horn, with its date 1598, stands
apart from the other Icelandic drinking horns
by its total lack of decorative elements. It has
one figurative scene from the New Testament
and two from the Old Testament. One of
Christ's miracles is shown in the upper zone,
the changing of water into wine at the wedding
in Cana (figs 68-70). The middle zone shows
Judith killing the Assyrian general Holofernes,
taken from the Apocryphal Book of Judith (figs
69, 68, 70 give the correct sequence). The mur-
der of David's son Absalom from II Samuel is
shown in the bottom zone (figs 71-72). All the
scenes are provided with explanatory inscrip-
tions, partly in höfðaletur and partly with in-
cised Latin majuscules.
The motif of the three-dimensional carving
on the tip of the horn (fig 73) brings us back to
the Nordic Middle Ages. It is a Romanesque
winged dragon with a man in its jaws, seen also
on the Trinity Horn (figs 26, 27), but here on the
Cana Horn the upper part of the body and arms
are also visible. The man is portrayed in
Renaissance dress.
There is one other horn with a date, the
Hunter's Horn from 1606, with its remarkably
fine Romanesque spiral scrolls in Icelandic
Style, inhabited by both human figures and ani-
mals (figs 81-84). We would certainly not lose
Brynjólfur's lively figurative scenes, not least
for their cultural-historical interest, but this
horn demonstrates that his greatest strength
lies in his heritage of medieval vine-scrolls. The
dragon's head at the tip of the horn (fig 85) is
very similar to that on the Cana Horn (figs 68,
73), but the man in the beast's jaws has been
removed.
We seldom know who owned the drinking
horns, but in this case the owner's name is
inscribed: Sigvatur Hreidarson. Professor
Stefán Karlsson from Reykjavík has established
that Sighvatur Hreiðarsson was a parish bailiff
in Vestmannaeyjar, which would suggest that
leading men in society at this time still pro-
cured for themselves carved drinking horns,
just as in the Middle Ages.
Two of Brynjólfur's drinking horns are un-
67