Norum

Results: 26 records

Click to view images and/or subjects

B01: inscription

Scene Description: Runic text identifying Sven, the artist (?) or sponsor (?) [cf. FontNotes]

Image Source: photographed 18 June 1997 by BSI

B01: representations ~ gods, demi-gods, heroes etc. (Germanic and Scandinavian religions) - Gunnar - Gunnar in the serpents' pit

Scene Description: [cf. Font notes]

Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 18 June 1997 by BSI

B01: view of basin - side 1

Image Source: digital image of an illustration in Montelius & Brusewitz (1878)

Copyright Instructions: PD

B02: design element - architectural - arcade - round arches - 2

Scene Description: with a Latin cross in each

B02: symbol - cross - Latin - 2

Scene Description: inside the arches of the arcade

B02: view of basin - side 2

Image Source: digital image of an illustration in Montelius & Brusewitz (1878)

Copyright Instructions: PD

B03: animal - reptile - snake or dragon - 2

Scene Description: two (?) reptiles with multiple scrolls

B03: view of basin - side 3

Image Source: digital image of an illustration in Montelius & Brusewitz (1878)

Copyright Instructions: PD

B04: design element - motifs - scroll

Scene Description: below the interlace

B04: design element - patterns - interlace

B04: view of basin - side 4

Image Source: digital image of an illustration in Montelius & Brusewitz (1878)

Copyright Instructions: PD

information

Scene Description: archival notes on this font at the SHM p.1

Image Source: scanned image of the archival notes at the SHM [http://mis.historiska.se/mis/sok/fid.asp?fid=46162] [accessed 9 October 2012]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0

information

Scene Description: archival notes on this font at the SHM p.2

Image Source: scanned image of the archival notes at the SHM [http://mis.historiska.se/mis/sok/fid.asp?fid=46162] [accessed 9 October 2012]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0

information

Scene Description: archival notes on this font at the SHM p.3

Image Source: scanned image of the archival notes at the SHM [http://mis.historiska.se/mis/sok/fid.asp?fid=46162] [accessed 9 October 2012]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0

information

Scene Description: archival notes on this font at the SHM p.4

Image Source: scanned image of the archival notes at the SHM [http://mis.historiska.se/mis/sok/fid.asp?fid=46162] [accessed 9 October 2012]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0

information

Scene Description: archival notes on this font at the SHM p.5

Image Source: scanned image of the archival notes at the SHM [http://mis.historiska.se/mis/sok/fid.asp?fid=46162] [accessed 9 October 2012]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0

information

Scene Description: archival notes on this font at the SHM p.6

Image Source: scanned image of the archival notes at the SHM [http://mis.historiska.se/mis/sok/fid.asp?fid=46162] [accessed 9 October 2012]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0

information

Scene Description: archival notes on this font at the SHM p.7

Image Source: scanned image of the archival notes at the SHM [http://mis.historiska.se/mis/sok/fid.asp?fid=46162] [accessed 9 October 2012]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0

information

Scene Description: archival notes on this font at the SHM p.8

Image Source: scanned image of the archival notes at the SHM [http://mis.historiska.se/mis/sok/fid.asp?fid=46162] [accessed 9 October 2012]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0

information

Scene Description: archival notes on this font at the SHM p.9

Image Source: scanned image of the archival notes at the SHM [http://mis.historiska.se/mis/sok/fid.asp?fid=46162] [accessed 9 October 2012]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0

information

Scene Description: archival notes on this font at the SHM p.10; with B&W photograph

Image Source: scanned image of the archival notes at the SHM [http://mis.historiska.se/mis/sok/fid.asp?fid=46162] [accessed 9 October 2012]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0

information

Image Source: on-site notes taken 28 August 2012 by BSI

Copyright Instructions: IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE

information

Image Source: on-site notes taken 28 August 2012 by BSI

Copyright Instructions: IMAGE NOT FOR PUBLIC USE

view of basin

Image Source: digital image of a photograph taken 19 May 1995 by Lennart Karlsson [http://mis.historiska.se/mis/sok/fid.asp?fid=46162] [accessed 9 October 2012]

Copyright Instructions: CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0

view of church exterior - south view

Scene Description: [NB: original image edited for lens distortion correction]

Image Source: digital photograph taken 9 Sugust 2007 by D.O.G.A. [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Norums_kyrka_7.jpg] [accessed 9 October 2012]

Copyright Instructions: PD-self

view of font - sides 3-4

INFORMATION

FontID: 00171NOR

Museum and Inventory Number: Statens Historiska museum, Stockholm

Church/Chapel: [originally from Norums Kyrka]

Church Location: Kyrkenorumsvägen 204, 444 91 Stenungsund, Sweden -- Tel.: +46 303 660 00

Country Name: Sweden

Location: Bohuslän, Västra Götalands län

Directions to Site: Norum is located off (NW) the E6, 2-3 km SE of Stenungsund -- The Statens Historiska museum is in the Stockholm city centre

Ecclesiastic Region: Göteborgs stift

Historical Region: Inlands nordre härad

Font Location in Church: [in a museum]

Century and Period: 12th century (mid?), Romanesque

Workshop/Group/Artisan: Master Sven

Cognate Fonts: a similar one at nearby Kareby kyrka-- replica copy of the font now used in the church

Credit and Acknowledgements: We are grateful to Lennart Karlsson, formerly of the SHM, to the curator of the Medieval collections and to the staff at the Statens Historiska Museum, Stockholm, for their help in documenting this font during our two visits

Church Notes: 12thC church; expanded mid-19thC -- the present font at Norums Kyrka is a later wooden one used between 1865 and 1962, until a copy of the old font was installed in the church

Font Notes: Click to view font notes

Noted and illustrated in Montelius & Brusewitz (1878), a basin similar in shape, but smaller, to the one from Harestad; closer to that at Kareby; this source dwells in detail with the Runic inscription on this and other fonts of the area. Romilly Allen (1883-1884) notes that "a man between four serpents occurs on a font with a Runic inscription in Norum". Noted and illustrated by Gustaf Munthe, in Roosval (1917). Noted and illustrated in Hallbäck (1961) who reports a Runic inscription giving the name of the maker as Sven, and a scene believed to refer to the legend of Gunnar in the snake pit, with crosses and loop onaments on the other sides; the font, says the author, was discovered in the churchyard in 1847, sold to Stockholm, later to make its way back to the SHM via the British Museum of London. Hallbäck (ibid.) further notes that a copy was made of this font in 1962 and it is now in use in the church, replacing in 1962 a wooden font that had been in use in the church since 1895; also reported are two baptismal dishes, one 15th-century, the other of 1634. Nordström (1984) notes that there is a scene of Gunnar in the Serpents' Den on this font. Jansson (1987) cites the Runic inscription giving the name of the maker, "Sven" and mentions the below the inscription "there is a picture of Gunnar in the snake-pen, playing his harp with his feet", a motif he describes that has been "extremely tenacious of survival in the pictorial art of Scandinavia" (ibid.). Described and illustrated in Andersson & Regner (2008) with date towards the late-11th or early-12th century; this source, which also identifies the scene on the figurative panel as Gunnar in the serpent pit, notes the ease with which the early Scandinavian priests equated Gunnar with the biblical Daniel, and treated both as symbols of Christ's death and resurrection. The SHM site records 1851 as the date of accession of the font into their collections. The type of stone appears to be uncertain, different sources identifying it differently: granite [mica gneiss], soapstone [steatite / soaprock], etc.] On-site notes: only the basin remains now, its bottom is broken off and missing; one side shows a human surrounded by serpents [cf. supra; the next side [L -> R] has two Latin crosses inside and arcade of two round arches; the next side has two elaborate reptiles, perhaps snakes, though one resembles a dragon, executed in fanciful scrolls; the fourth side has a fairly simple interlace with a couple of scrolls below. The upper rim of the font shows an indentation all around that must have accommodated a cover originally.

COORDINATES

Church Latitude & Longitude Decimal: 58.053294, 11.852894

Church Latitude & Longitude DMS: 58° 3′ 11.86″ N, 11° 51′ 10.42″ E

UTM: 32V 668351 6438201

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: stone, soapstone (steatite, soaprock)

Number of Pieces: one

Font Shape: rectangular (unmounted)

Basin Interior Shape: rectangular

Basin Exterior Shape: rectangular

Drainage Notes: no lining

Rim Thickness: 5-5.5 cm*

Diameter (inside rim): 42 x 43 cm*

Basin Depth: 31 cm* [approximate, as bottom is missing]

Height of Basin Side: 33 cm*

Basin Total Height: 33 cm* / 35.56 cm** / 35 cm***

Font Height (less Plinth): 33 cm*

Trapezoidal Basin: 53-54 x 51-52 cm* (top); 36 x 41 cm* (bottom) / 53

Notes on Measurements: * BSI on-site / ** Montelius & Brusewitz (1878) give the breadth at the basin top as 1.8 Swedish foot [=29.69 cm] / *** SHM gives 53 cm square at the top

INSCRIPTION

Inscription Language: runes

Inscription Notes: Jansson's source (1987) includes the Runic text and the transliteration [cf. ImagesArea for the Runic text]

Inscription Location: on the side of the basin, above Sigurd`s scene

Inscription Text: [Transcription of Runic inscription: "Sven gjorde mig" [= Sven made me]]

Inscription Source: SHM label; Jansson (1987: 170)

LID INFORMATION

Notes: [cf. FontNotes]

REFERENCES

Allen, J. Romilly, "Notes on Early Christian Symbolism", N.S., VI, Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 1884, pp. 380-464; r["References"]

Andersson, Gunnar, "Suède, la longue christianisation", Celtes et Scandinaves: recontres artistiques, VIIIe-XIIe siècle, Paris: Musée de Cluny - Musée national du Moyen-Age, 2008

Hallbäck, Sven Axel, Medeltida dopfuntar i Bohuslän, 1961

Jansson, Sven B. F., Runes in Sweden, Gidlunds, Sweden: Royal Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities, Central Board of National Antiquiries, 1987

Montelius, Oscar, Bohuslänska dopfuntar, Stockholm: P.A. Norstedt & Söner, 1878

Nordström, Folke, Mediaeval Baptismal Fonts: An Iconographical Study, Stockholm: Universitetet i Umeå, 1984

Pudelko, Georg, Romanische Taufsteine, Berlin: Wurfel Verlag, 1932

Roosval, Johnny, Die Steinmeister Gottlands: Eine Geschichte der führenden Taufsteinwerkstätte des schwedischen Mittlealters, ihre Voraussetzungen und Begleit-Erscheinungen, Stockholm: A.-B. C.E. Fritzes K. Hofbokhandel, 1918

Roosval, Johnny, Dopfuntar i Statens Historiska Museum, 1917

Svanberg, Jan, "Stenskulpturen", Den Romanska Konsten, Lund: Bokförlaget Signum, 1995