Animals often appear in Viking art, though the nature and form of such animals is frequently unfamiliar to the modern eye. Many of the animals depicted in Viking art are either composite, mythological creatures, sometimes of uncertain origin, or depicted in such a stylised way as to be difficult to clearly identify. Incorporated into the swirling interwoven designs common across the majority of Viking art, animals can be hard to pick out at first. For example, the so-called ‘Gripping Beast’, named as such due to the uncertainty surrounding exactly what kind of beast it actually depicts.
Jellinge style is named after a silver cup found in a king’s burial at Jelling in Jutland, Denmark. The style mainly comprises symmetrical ribbon-like animals, normally ‘S’ in shape with a rounded head. The bodies of the animals are intertwined and are segmented by straight lines forming a ladder pattern along their length.
