Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana. Supplementum - 01.06.2000, Qupperneq 125

SUMMARY CHAP. VI
med seg en nedvurdering av det gamle. Det
furte til at man fort vekk skar bort báde spiss og
munningsrand av gamle drikkehorn, om de var
aldri sá fint utskáret. De skulle gjores om til
brennevinshorn, noen ogsá til krutthorn.
Enkelte utsokte eksemplarer ble reddet fordi de
ble brukt som gaver til utenlandske stormenn.
Noen kan ha blitt skánet av andre grunner. Men
det store flertall ble omlaget og derved mer
eller mindre odelagt.
De mange nye brennevinshorn fikk beslag av
tinn, solv eller messing. De ble ogsá prydet med
utskjæringer. Pá den máten var de arvtagere
etter de eldre horn. Drikkehorn skulle fortsatt
være fint dekorert. Men idealene for utsmyk-
ningen endret seg temmelig radikalt. Þjóðminja-
safn íslands har en stor samling av utskárne
brennevinshorn, de fleste fra 1700-árene. De
viser at motivene forst og fremst var plante-
ornamentikk. Den brer seg noen steder uav-
brutt over hele overflaten, andre steder i brede
soner begrenset av smalere belter, som ogsá har
SUMMARY
Unfortunately there are no surviving examples
of the many carved horns that must have exist-
ed in Iceland prior to the Late Middle Ages. It is
also a great pity that relatively few horns have
survived from the period we are dealing with
here, from around 1400 to the end of the 17th
century. However, it seems that the horns that
have survived are fairly evenly distributed
throughout the period, so that we are perhaps
able to obtain a reasonably good picture of the
development of Icelandic horn carving in this
period. The continuity and strong conservatism
in most of the subject-matter are especially
noticeable.
If establishing the date of the undated horns
can be difficult, establishing the provenance is
practically impossible, as the information is
very sparse. It is therefore not possible to draw
any conclusions about local characteristics in
horn carving in the various districts of Iceland.
To what extent the horns were painted is not
known. We can only say that traces of colour
can be seen on a couple of medieval horns as
well as on some of the post-medieval ones. One
horn still has polychrome paint (fig 144).
planteornamentikk. Dessuten har flere av hor-
nene innskriftbelter, særlig med eiernavn i
höfðaletur. Planterankene er blitt noksá ukjen-
nelige. Stenglene kan være svært brede og ufor-
melige. Noen gár i bolgegang som for, andre
synes á ha et helt tilfeldig lop. (Se fig. 155-156.)
Store blomster forekommer sammen med sterkt
variert bladverk. Noen steder ses fugler og
draker i rankeverket. Figurscener synes der-
imot á ha vært helt bannlyst pá brennevins-
hornene.
Man kan nesten si at brennevinshornenes
utseende bekrefter at de «gammeldagse» drik-
kehornene utgjor en gruppe for seg, som for-
tjener at en egen bok blir viet dem. Herved er
de presentert. Det er forfatterens háp at de vil
vekke tilstrekkelig interesse til at yngre forskere
vil bli fristet til á ta opp tráden og bidra til á
kaste lys over dunkle omráder, báde nár det
gjelder tidfesting, ikonografi, forbilder, og inn-
holdet av vanskelig lesbare innskrifter.
A couple of Icelandic horns whose existence
was known about earlier are today only known
from the written sources, supplemented with
pictures in the form of copperplate engravings
(figs 153-154).
As the drinking of spirits became more com-
mon, leading to new requirements about the
appearance and function of drinking vessels,
the old customs began to decline in value. As a
result both the tip and the mouthpiece were
quickly removed from old drinking horns,
regardless of how exquisitely they were carved,
so that they could be used for drinking spirits,
or as powder horns. Some excellent pieces were
saved as they were used as gifts for prominent
people abroad, but the majority were converted
and consequently more or less destroyed.
Many new horns for drinking spirits were
made. These were also decorated with carving,
but the foliage was very different and figurative
scenes were apparently not used (e.g. figs
155-156). The style of the horns for spirits con-
firm that the older horns for mead, wine and ale
constitute a separate group.
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