Preloved Karkku pendant 70 cm bronze

In the Viking Age, Finland became a crossroads where influences from East, West, and South blended, inspiring Finnish smiths to craft distinctive designs unlike any of their models. A bronze item found in Karkku — which served as the model for this impressive pendant — borrowed its Thor’s hammer motif from western neighbors. The tinkling pendants, in turn, were characteristic of the jewelry of Finno-Ugric peoples in the East. The bull’s-eye decorations and protruding knobs rising from the surface of the piece are, however, typical features of jewelry crafted in Finland during the Viking Age. The Karkku pendant was part of the Kalevala jewelry range from the late 1930s till the early 2000s. Width 54 mm, the reverse side is unpatterned. Anchor chain 70 cm, no clasp.