This rock carving, made from soapstone, was found in 1950 on a Danish beach, Horsens Fjord, dating back to 1000 CE. The character that is being depicted here is Loki. Loki, the Norse god of fire and mischief, a character from Norse mythology, or Scandinavian mythology. Here, the figure is identified as Loki because of his mouth. Because he was such a liar and a trickster, Loki's mouth is sewn shut. The process in which this piece was created; the rock is considered a hearth stone, the hole in the front was used for an entrance way for bellows, the bellows pushed the flame upward out of the top hole, the process was said to represent Loki as god of the flame. This particular piece can be found in the Moesgård Museum, H
øjberg, Denmark. I like this piece because the red (cut out part) really stands out. I like how it is based from the myths of Loki.
Moesgård Museum's website
(you may have to open this in Google Chrome so that you can translate the webpage)
http://www.moesmus.dk/da/udstillinger/vikingemuseet/
That's pretty cool. I know that Scandinavia is a cold and wet place, but I didn't really know that they used hearthstones like that. I also didn't know that Loki was associated with fire, and that the Norse had an almost Greek-like use for the stones, since they applied a picture that matched with a functional piece, much like the bowls that the Greeks drank from.
ReplyDeleteThis is an extremely old rock! And I'm guessing this would be more folk art than a grand piece made for someone wealthy. It's interesting how the art was adapted to the function of the hearth stone
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