Franks Casket (facsimile).

Format
Visual material
Language
English
Published/​Created
London : British Museum, 1991.
Description
1 box (facsimile) ; 14 cm high, 24 cm long, 20 cm wide

Availability

Copies in the Library

Location Call Number Status Location Service Notes
Marquand Library - Rare BooksNK710 .F73 1991 Browse related items Reading Room Request

    Details

    Subject(s)
    Notes
    • A reimagining of the 8th century Franks Casket, also known as the Auzon casket, a rectangular Anglo-Saxon casket hand carved from whalebone.
    • This reproduction, hand cast in resin, has been inspired by the original and developed with the guidance of leading experts to present a complete version of how this magnificent piece could have looked.
    • The original box was richly carved on the sides and lid in high relief with a range of scences and accompanying texts in both the runic and Roman alphabets, and in both Old English and Latin. The box shows scences from Roman, Jewish, Christian and Germanic tradition.
    • Handmade and painted in the UK by Andrew Lilley exclusively for the British Museum.
    • From British Museum website: "Lidded rectangular box made of whale-bone, carved on the sides and top in relief with scenes from Roman, Jewish, Christian and Germanic tradition. The base is constructed from four sides slotted and pegged into corner uprights, the bottom plates fitted into grooves at the base of the sides. It possibly stood on four low feet. Only one decorative panel now survives in the lid, the remaining elements being almost certainly replacements. There are scars left by lost metal fittings on the exterior - handle, lock, hasps and hinges - and crude internal repairs. The five surviving decorated panels are variously accompanied by carved texts in Old English and Latin, using both conventional and encoded runes as well as Insular script, in a variety of orientations. Each side is bordered by a long descriptive text and three contain additional labels; the lid panel has only the latter, though a longer text may originally have accompanied it. The front is divided in two: the left half shows a composite scene from the Weland the Smith legend, the right half, the Adoration of the Magi, with the label 'mægi' carved above the kings. The main inscription takes the form of a riddling alliterative verse about the casket's origin. The left-hand end depicts Romulus and Remus nurtured by the wolf with an inscription describing the scene. The back panel shows the capture of Jerusalem in AD 70 by the Roman general, later emperor, Titus: labels on the two lower corners read 'dom' = 'judgment', and 'gisl' = 'hostage' respectively. The main inscription is in a mixture of Old English, Latin, runes and insular script. The right-hand end poses special problems of interpretation. The apparently episodic scene is evidently from Germanic legend but has not been satisfactorily identified. Three labels read: 'risci' = 'rush', 'wudu' = 'wood' and 'bita' = 'biter'. The main runic text is in alliterative verse partly encoded by substituting cryptic forms for most of its vowels and perhaps certain other letters. The lid appears to depict an episode relating to the Germanic hero Egil and has the single label 'aegili' = 'Egil'."
    • Dimensions of the original: height 10.9 cm., length 22.9 cm., width 19 cm. Material of original: Whalebone. Acquisition date 1867. Department: Britain, Europe & Prehistory. R49940.
    Other title(s)
    Auzon Casket (facsimile)
    OCLC
    904553907
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