The Franks Casket, also known as Auson's Casket, is a small Anglo-Saxon casket made of whalebone (though not from actual whales) dating back to the early 8th century. It is currently preserved in the British Museum. The casket features intricate decoration with knife-carved narrative scenes in flat two-dimensional relief, accompanied by inscriptions, primarily in Anglo-Saxon runes. Although it is believed to originate from Northumbria, it holds unique significance in shedding light on early Anglo-Saxon art and culture. Both the interpretation of the images and the deciphering of the runic inscriptions have been subjects of extensive scholarly research.
The casket's imagery is diverse in terms of subject matter and origin. It includes a solitary Christian image, the Adoration of the Magi, alongside depictions from Roman history (Emperor Titus) and Roman mythology (Romulus and Remus). Furthermore, there is an image related to a legend of the Germanic peoples, the tale of Weiland the Smith. Some scholars have proposed that other scenes may reference episodes from the legend of Sigurd, a lost story from the life of Weyland's brother Egil, the Homeric legend of Achilles, and possibly even a hint of the legendary founding of England by Hengist and Horsa.
The inscriptions on the casket display a deliberate linguistic and alphabetic complexity. Although primarily composed in Old English and runes, they intermittently switch to Latin and the Roman alphabet and then back to runes, sometimes even written upside down or backwards. The casket gets its name from its former owner, Sir Augustus Wollaston Franks, who generously donated it to the British Museum.
The monastic origins of the chest, which may have been created to be presented to a prominent secular figure, are widely accepted. It has been suggested that it could have been connected to the foundation of Wilfrid at Ripon. The post-medieval history of the casket was unknown until relatively recently when research by W. H. J. Weale revealed that it belonged to the church of Saint-Julien in Brioude, Haute Loire, France. It may have been looted during the French Revolution and subsequently came into the possession of a family from the village of Auzon in Haute-Loire. It served as a sewing box until the original silver hinges and fittings connecting the panels were replaced with a silver ring. This alteration caused the box to fall apart. The pieces were eventually shown to Professor Mathieu of nearby Clermont-Ferrand, who sold them to an antique store in Paris. In 1857, Sir Augustus Wollaston Franks purchased the panels and later donated them to the British Museum in 1867, where he served as the curator of the British and Medieval collections. The missing right end panel was later discovered in the family's possession in Ausone and was sold to the Bargello Museum in Florence, where it was identified as part of the casket in 1890. A cast of it is included in the British Museum's exhibition.
The front panel, which was originally provided with a lock, depicts elements of the Germanic legend of the blacksmith Weyland on the left side and the Adoration of the Magi on the right. Weyland (also spelled Weyland, Velund or Wölund) stands in the far left corner of the forge, where he is held as a slave by King Nirhad, who had his hamstrings cut to make him immobile. Below the forge lies the headless body of Nirhad's son, whom Wayland killed by making a goblet of his skull; his head is probably the object held in the tongs in Wayland's hand. With his other hand, Wayland offers a goblet of stupefied beer to Nirhad's daughter Biduhild, whom he rapes as she loses consciousness. In the center is another female figure, perhaps Wayland's assistant or again Beaduhild. In the right-hand scene Wayland (or his brother) catches birds; he then makes wings of their feathers, with which he manages to escape.
In stark contrast, the right scene shows one of the most common Christian subjects depicted in art of the period; here, however, "the hero's birth also makes good sin and suffering." Three wise men, indicated by the inscription (ᛗᚫᚷᛁ, "wise men"), guided by a large star, approach the seated Madonna and Child on the throne, bearing traditional gifts. The goose-like bird at the feet of the leading wise man may represent the Holy Spirit, usually depicted as a dove, or an angel. The human figures, at least, form a composition very comparable to those depicted in other paintings of the period. Richard Fletcher believed that this contrast of scenes from left to right was intended to indicate the positive and beneficial effects of conversion.
Around the panel comes the following alliterative inscription, which does not refer to the scenes, but is a mystery about the material of the chest itself, whalebone, and specifically from a whale cast ashore:
"ᚠᛁᛋᚳ.ᚠᛚᚩᛞᚢ.ᚪᚻᚩᚠᚩᚾᚠᛖᚱᚷ | ᛖᚾᛒᛖᚱᛁᚷ | ᚹᚪᚱᚦᚷᚪ:ᛋᚱᛁᚳᚷᚱᚩᚱᚾᚦᚫᚱᚻᛖᚩᚾᚷᚱᛖᚢᛏᚷᛁᛋᚹᚩᛗ | ᚻᚱᚩᚾᚫᛋᛒᚪᚾ
The flood cast up the fish on the mountain-cliff. The terror-king became sad where he swam on the shingle. Whale's bone."
The left panel shows the mythological twin founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus, being suckled by a she-wolf lying on her back at the bottom of the scene. The same she-wolf, or another, stands taller, with two men with spears approaching from each side. The inscription reads:
"ᚱᚩᛗᚹᚪᛚᚢᛋᚪᚾᛞᚱᛖᚢᛗᚹᚪᛚᚢᛋᛏᚹᛟᚷᛖᚾ | ᚷᛁᛒᚱᚩᚦᚫᚱ | ᚪᚠᛟᛞᛞᚫᚻᛁᚫᚹᚣᛚᛁᚠᛁᚾᚱᚩᛗᚫᚳᚫᛋᛏᚱᛁ: | ᚩᚦᚳᚫᚢᚾᚾᛖᚷ
Romulus and Remus, two brothers, a she-wolf nourished them in Rome, far from their native land. "
The back panel depicts the Taking of Jerusalem by Titus in the First Jewish-Roman War. The inscription is partly in Old English and partly in Latin, and part of the Latin part is written in Latin letters and the rest is phonetically transcribed into runic letters. In the lower corners are two separate words.
The cover as it now survives is incomplete. Leslie Webster has suggested that the missing areas may have been decorated with silver relief panels. The empty circular space in the center probably contained a metal boss for a handle. The cover depicts a scene in which an archer, marked ᚫᚷᛁᛚᛁ or gili, defends the fortress alone against a squad of attackers who may be giants in size.
The right panel of Bargello, has yielded a wide variety of interpretations of both text and images, and none of the readings has been universally accepted. On the left, on a small rounded hill, sits the figure of an animal confronted by an armed warrior wearing a helmet. In the center a standing animal, usually depicted as a horse, is looking at a figure holding a stick or sword, which stands over something marked by a curved line. On the right are three figures.