Viking urn robe clasp with Midgard serpents

The Midgard Serpent (Jörmungandr) on this Urnes-style garment clasp symbolizes the immensity and balance of the world in Norse mythology, as it encircles Midgard as the world serpent. It also represents the eternal cycle, protection, and the connection between chaos and order. In the delicate Urnes style of the late Viking Age, the depiction of the intertwined creatures further embodies strength, tradition, and the deeply rooted Germanic animal ornamentation.

The Urnes style takes its name from the stave church of Urnes in the Norwegian province of Sogn og Fjordane, whose portal carvings are considered the most important example of this art form. This last art historical period of the Viking Age was influential roughly between 1050 and 1125 AD.

The Urnes style is characterized by extremely stylized, graceful, and serpentine animal depictions, intertwined in delicate, asymmetrical loops (dragon loops). In contrast to the bolder Ringerike style, which is marked by organic forms, leaf-like motifs, and greater opulence, the Urnes style appears more minimalist and elegant, focusing on the fluid interplay of slender quadrupeds, snakes, and ribbon-like creatures.

Traditionally, metals such as bronze, silver, and, less frequently, gold were used to make Viking Age garment clasps, often supplemented by materials like cattle bone. In society, these fibulae and brooches served not only as practical fasteners for cloaks or garments, but as precious pieces of jewelry, they were also significant status symbols, openly displaying the wearer's wealth, social rank, and sometimes even gender.