900-1100 AD. Viking Age. Bronze amulet comprising a longboat with stylised dragon’s-head prow and stern with carefully cast features and textured scales; nine elongated tassel pendants hang from the underside, perhaps representing oars or the wings of the dragons. Dragons were important figures in Norse mythology, and were known for their powerful, destructive nature. In Norse mythology, Jormungand (pronounced “YOUR-mun-gand;” Old Norse Jörmungandr, “Great Beast”), also called the “Midgard Serpent,” is a snake or dragon who lives in the ocean that surrounds Midgard, the visible world. He was so enormous that his body forms a circle around the entirety of Midgard. He is one of the three children of Loki and the giantess Angrboda, along with Hel and Fenrir. This item would have been an appropriate amulet for a ship’s captain. Good condition; beautiful patina.Size: L:145mm / W:85mm ; 116g; Provenance: Property of a professional Ancient art and jewelry expert; previously with a London gallery; initially from a private British collection formed in the 1970s.