[Illustration:  A Carved Norwegian Doorway.  Period:  X. to XI.  Century.]

There are also at Kensington other casts of curious Scandinavian woodwork of more Byzantine treatment, the originals of which are in the Museums of Stockholm and Copenhagen, where the collection of antique woodwork of native production is very large and interesting, and proves how wood carving, as an industrial art, has flourished in Scandinavia from the early Viking times.  One can still see in the old churches of Borgund and Hitterdal much of the carved woodwork of the seventh and eighth centuries; and lintels and porches full of national character are to be found in Thelemarken.

Under this heading of Scandinavian may be included the very early Russian school of ornamental woodwork.  Before the accession of the Romanoff dynasty in the sixteenth century, the Ruric race of kings came originally from Finland, then a province of Sweden; and, so far as one can see from old illuminated manuscripts, there was a similarity of design to those of the early Norwegian and Swedish carved lintels which have been noticed above.

[Illustration:  Carved Wood Chair, Scandinavian Work.  Period:  12th to 13th Century.]

The covers and caskets of early mediaeval times were no inconsiderable items in the valuable furniture of a period when the list of articles coming under that definition was so limited.  These were made in oak for general use, and some were of good workmanship; but of the very earliest none remain.  There were, however, others, smaller and of a special character, made in ivory of the walrus and elephant, of horn and whalebone, besides those of metal.  In the British Museum is one of these, of which the cover is illustrated on the following page, representing a man defending his house against an attack by enemies armed with spears and shields.  Other parts of the casket are carved with subjects and runic inscriptions which have enabled Mr. Stephens, an authority on this period of archaeology, to assign its date to the eighth century, and its manufacture to that of Northumbria.  It most probably represents a local incident, and part of the inscription refers to a word signifying treachery.  It was purchased by Mr. A.W.  Franks, F.S.A., and is one of the many valuable specimens given to the British Museum by its generous curator.

[Illustration:  Cover of a Casket Carved in Whalebone. (Northumbrian, 8th Century.  British Museum.)]

Of the furniture of our own country previous to the eleventh or twelfth centuries we know but little.  The habits of the Anglo-Saxons were rude and simple, and they advanced but slowly in civilisation until after the Norman invasion.  To convey, however, to our minds some idea of the interior of a Saxon thane’s castle, we may avail ourselves of Sir Walter Scott’s antiquarian research, and borrow his description of the chief apartment in Rotherwood, the hospitable hall of Cedric the Saxon.  Though