Jonas Lau Markussen

The Bejsebakken Brooch

Reconstruction illustration of the bronze Urnes style openwork brooch from Bejsebakken, Denmark.

 

The brooch displays the Great Beast motif: a larger animal intertwined by a lesser serpent, which is an extremely common motif in the Urnes style.

 

Similar brooches with the exact same composition have been found at Borre, Norway and elsewhere.

 

Though the overall design of the brooches is well preserved, details in this illustration have been reconstructed. The feet of the great beast are based on similar motifs decorating numerous Swedish runestones, and the head of the serpent is in large based on the Hørning plank carving.

 

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Bejsebakken, Jutland, Denmark
Nationalmuseet (The National Museum of Denmark)
C30567

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