The artefact named 'Baroque number 1' of the five heads discovered at Oseberg. Four were found bound together in the burial chamber, with a fifth on the forward deck.
The animal heads are decorated in what became known as the 'Oseberg style' of Viking art – namely, an interplay of geometric and zoomorphic forms and a tendency for animals to grip the bordering art with its paws – the so-called 'gripping beast' style that was an important motif in Viking art for over a century.
This head is known as the 'Carolingian', in reference to the Frankish dynasty of rulers – and the distinctive architectural style named for them, which dominated northern continental Europe around the time of the Oseberg heads' carving.
This head was given the nickname 'The Academic', and it is the best preserved and most studied of the Oseberg heads. Each of the heads was carved from a single naturally-curved piece of wood, and has its own distinctive style. A handle at the base of each suggests they may have been grafted to something – a throne, or conveyance perhaps – but exactly what remains obscure.
This head is known as 'The Lion.' The Oseberg finds presented a conundrum for conservators, once exhumed from the peat that had preserved them. Due to the primitive methods of the time, the four most intricate of the heads, along with two other artefacts, were stored in water tanks while methods were refined. One of these – containing ’Baroque number 2’ – sprang a leak during the Second World War, and disintegrated.
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