The Torslunda plates are four cast bronze dies found in the Torslunda parish on the Swedish island
Öland
Öland (, ; ; sometimes written ''Øland'' in other Scandinavian languages, and often ''Oland'' internationally; la, Oelandia) is the second-largest Swedish island and the smallest of the traditional provinces of Sweden. Öland has an area ...
. They display figures in
relief
Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term '' relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...
, representing what are presumed to be traditional scenes from
Germanic mythology
Germanic mythology consists of the body of myths native to the Germanic peoples, including Norse mythology, Anglo-Saxon mythology, and Continental Germanic mythology. It was a key element of Germanic paganism.
Origins
As the Germanic langu ...
. The plates are
moulds designed for production rather than display; by placing thin sheets of foil against the scenes and hammering or otherwise applying pressure from the back, identical images could be quickly mass-produced. The resulting ''pressblech'' foils would be used to decorate rich helmets of the sort found at
Vendel,
Valsgärde
Valsgärde or Vallsgärde is a farm on the Fyris river, about three kilometres north of Gamla Uppsala, the ancient centre of the Swedish kings and of the pagan faith in Sweden. The present farm dates from the 16th century. The farm's notabilit ...
, and
Sutton Hoo. Two of the plates may have been made as casts of existing ''pressblech'' foils.
Discovery
The plates were discovered in a
cairn in early 1870, and are in the collection of the
Statens Historiska Museum. Their fame derives from containing full scenes from mythology, unlike the fragmentary and degraded scraps of ''pressblech'' foils that are known. The plates have been exhibited internationally, including from 13 May to 26 June 1966, when they were part of the exhibition ''Swedish Gold'' at the
British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
. The plates have been dated to the
Vendel Period of the 6th and 7th centuries.
Description
Each plate contains a different mythological design, traditionally labeled, displayed here counterclockwise from the bottom right A to D, as "man between bears", "man with axe holding roped animal", "walking warriors carrying spears" and "dancing man with horned head-dress and man with spear wearing wolfskin". The warriors in Plate C are depicted as wearing
boar helmets.
Interpretation
The last depiction is particularly well known for its missing right eye, shown by a laser scanner to have been struck out, likely from the original used to make the
mould. This recalls the one-eyed Norse god
Odin, said to have given an eye to be allowed to drink from a well whose waters contained wisdom and intelligence, and suggests that the figure on the plate is he. He is depicted along with a wolfman, interpreted as a
berserker (''Úlfhéðinn'')''.'' The latter is perhaps a ''
pars pro toto
''Pars pro toto'' (, ), , is a figure of speech where the name of a ''portion'' of an object, place, or concept is used or taken to represent its entirety. It is distinct from a merism, which is a reference to a whole by an enumeration of parts; ...
'' embodying the wolf-warriors led in ecstatic dance by the god of frenzy.
References
Bibliography
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{{Commons category, Torslunda helmet plate patrices
1870 archaeological discoveries
Archaeological artifacts
Archaeological discoveries in Sweden
Bronze objects
Medieval European metalwork objects
Swedish art
Öland