Statuette

Bronze statuette of a sitting male figure. Except for a pointed hat he is naked and between his legs is his powerful erect phallus. The staring gaze is highlighted with two different shaped, large bulbous eyes. Below the strong nose there is a upward pointing moustache reaching out towards the man's earlobes. In his right hand he is holding his long goatee beard, as if he is pulling or stroking it. Around his wrist he is wearing a strong armlet. We do not know how his left arm was being used as it is broken off at the elbow. The legs of the figure are undersized, and appear to mainly serve as support for his trunk and upper body. On his back there are four spiral patterns. It is unclear whether they are tattoos or have another significance. Similar patterns have been found on animals depicted on runestones. The statuette represents the Vanir god Frey, bringer of fertility and prosperity. With his look and his phallus he is reminiscent of how in the 1070s Adam of Bremen describes Frey and how he is depicted in the Temple at Uppsala. The statuette was found in 1904 at Rällinge gård, Lunda Parish, Södermanland. Descriptions of the circumstances vary. One claims that it was found in the garden under "a great morass of stones, earth, trees and bushes", another that it was found "in potato country" by a 12-year-old boy called Gustaf Karlsson who sold it for 25 öre to Edvin Holmgren, who sold it on to the Swedish History Museum for 25 kronor.

Image rights: Ola Myrin, Historiska museet/SHM (CC BY 4.0)

Object number: 109037_HST

<   5 of 5  >