Celtic brooch
Encyclopedia
The Celtic brooch, more properly called the penannular brooch, and its closely related type, the pseudo-penannular brooch, are types of brooch
clothes fasteners, often rather large. They are especially associated with the beginning of the Early Medieval period in the British Isles
, although they are found in other times and places—for example, forming part of traditional female dress in areas in modern North Africa
.
Beginning as utilitarian fasteners in the Iron Age
and Roman period, they are especially associated with the highly ornate brooches produced in precious metal for the elites of Ireland
and Scotland
from about 700 to 900, which are popularly known as Celtic brooches or similar terms. They are the most significant objects in high-quality secular metalwork from Early Medieval Celtic art
, or Insular art
, as art historians prefer to call it. The type continued in simpler forms such as the thistle brooch into the 11th century, during what is often known as the Viking
Age in Ireland and Scotland.
Both penannular and pseudo-penannular brooches feature a long pin attached by its head to a ring; the pin can move freely around the ring as far as the terminals, which are close together. In the true penannular type, the ring is not closed; there is a gap between the terminals wide enough for the pin to pass through. In the pseudo-penannular type, the ring is closed, but there are still two separately defined terminals, which are joined by a further element. The penannular type is a simple and efficient way of fastening loosely woven cloth (where the pin will not leave a permanent hole), but the pseudo-penannular type is notably less efficient.
The brooches were worn by both men and women, usually singly at the shoulder by men and on the breast by women, and with the pin pointing up; an Irish law code says that in the event of injury from a pin to another person, the wearer is not at fault if the pin did not project too far and the brooch was worn in these ways by the sexes. The most elaborate examples were clearly significant expressions of status at the top of society, which were also worn by clergy, at least in Ireland, though probably to fasten cope
s and other vestment
s rather than as everyday wear. The Senchas Mhor, an early Irish law tract, specified that the sons of major kings, when being fostered, should have "brooches of gold having crystal inserted in them", while the sons of minor kings need wear only silver brooches.
Brooches of either penannular or annular type, where the pin is very large in relation to the ring, so that the ring cannot play any part in the fastening of the brooch, may be called "ring brooches", "pin brooches", or "brooch-pins"; or, especially where the ring is small and plain, "ringed pins". In these, the design of the pin head typically shows that the pin is intended to sit underneath the ring (seen from the front), rather than on top of it as in the larger brooches.
"Celtic" is a term avoided by specialists in describing objects, and especially artistic styles, of the Early Middle Ages from the British Isles, but is firmly fixed in the popular mind. The term Insular art
is used to describe the distinct style of art originating in the British Isles and combining Germanic, Celtic, Pictish and Mediterranean elements. Although some simpler and relatively early penannular brooches are found in Anglo-Saxon
contexts, and some sub-types predominantly so, as far as is known the Anglo-Saxons did not use these brooch styles for prestige elite jewellery. However, there are elements in the style of Irish and Scottish brooches deriving from Anglo-Saxon art
, and related to Insular work in other media, especially illuminated manuscript
s.
Fibula is Latin for "brooch" and is used in modern languages to describe the many types of Roman and post-Roman Early Medieval brooches with pins and catches behind the main face of the brooch. The brooches discussed here are sometimes also called fibulae, but rarely by English-speaking specialists.
With pseudo-penannular brooches, things are not so simple and the manner in which they were used is still debated; the method was probably not the same for all brooches. One method may have been to pull folds of the cloth through the ring until they could be pierced by the pin, and then pull the cloth back until the pin rested on the ring. This would work best with brooches with a pin not much longer than the diameter of the ring, which some have, but others do not. The second method might have been simply to pin the cloth vertically, leaving the ring hanging unattached to the cloth; this does not seem very secure. The third method relied on a length of chain or cord attached to the ring near the "terminals" (which in pseudo-penannular brooches do not actually terminate), which was used to secure the pin by tying it down, perhaps with a small pin at the end, which was also put through the cloth. The Tara Brooch
was probably fastened in this way. In some cases the pin was fitted with a bolt or rivet to make it removable. A further complication is that in some pseudo-penannular brooches the pin is fixed to lie in front of the ring, as in the Londesborough Brooch (below), but in others it crosses through the ring, starting with the head end in front of the ring, but the middle of the pin behind the ring by the point where it crosses at the other side; the Tara Brooch has been displayed set up in both ways. The latter arrangement seems more common in later brooches, of the 9th century.
It is fair to say that scholars remain slightly puzzled that the effective and simple penannular brooch developed in this direction, though it is presumed that the reuniting of the terminals of pseudo-penannular brooches was partly to strengthen the brooch. In many penannular brooches, the gap between the terminals is now too narrow for the pin to pass through; whether this was always the case is uncertain.
Small and simple penannular brooches in bronze, iron, and, rarely, silver were common in the Roman period as a practical fastener, but were not used for high-status objects, and any decoration was normally limited to bands around the ring or other simple patterns. Often the extra thickness at the terminal, necessary to prevent the pin just falling off, is achieved simply by turning back the ends of the ring. In the late Roman period in Britain in the 3rd and 4th centuries, a type of penannular brooch with zoomorphic decoration to the terminals appeared, with human or animal heads, still not much wider than the rest of the ring. Some examples had enamel
decoration, and the pin did not extend much beyond the ring. These are found especially in southwestern Britain and Wales
, and seem to have developed in these areas. This type fell from favour in southern Britain by the 5th century, but was developed in Ireland by the 6–7th centuries. These types considerably extended the size of the terminals, which now presented a flattish area often decorated with enamel or glass inlay, mostly using abstracted patterns but sometimes zoomorphic decoration. The length of the pin is now often about twice the diameter of the ring. The Irish cultural zone in this period included much of Western Scotland, and in Pict
ish East Scotland a similar development took place, though the forms are somewhat different here. The decoration paralleled that on other metalwork fittings such as pieces of harness-tackle, and the few remaining early Christian reliquaries and other pieces of church metalwork.
's techniques at a very high level of skill. They continued to be produced for about 200 years; the Pictish brooches are much more homogeneous in design than the Irish ones, which may indicate a shorter period of production, possibly from "the mid-eighth to the beginning of the ninth centuries". Each surviving design is unique, but the range of types established in the more modest earlier brooches are developed and elaborated upon. There was no previous tradition of very ornate brooches in Ireland, and this development may have come from contact with Continental elites who wore large fibulae as marks of status. Such contacts were certainly made, especially by travelling monks.
Archaeological, and some literary, evidence suggests that brooches in precious metal were a mark of royal status, along with wearing a purple cloak, and it is probably as such that they are worn by Christ
on a high cross
at Monasterboice
and by the Virgin Mary on another. All surviving examples, numbering over 50 (not all complete) in the case of the Irish ones, have been recovered by excavation, or at least finding in the ground, but where the detailed circumstances of the find are known, few are from graves, and finds in hoards are much more common. When they were in graves, the burials are often much later than the date of the brooch, as in a brooch in the Irish 8th century style found in a Norse burial in Westray
, Orkney, and possibly the Kilmainham Brooch. Elaborate brooches often have one or more names—presumed to be those of owners—scratched on the reverse, often in runes. Plainer brooches in bronze and similar alloys continue to be found in much larger numbers.
The most elaborate Irish brooches are pseudo-penannular, while the Scottish ones mostly retain true penannular forms. Most are silver-gilt
, the gilding often partial. Some are gilded base metal, of bronze or copper-alloy; only one solid gold Irish brooch is known, a 9th century one from Loughan, County Londonderry
, which is less elaborate than most of the series, though the standard of work is very high. However, some brooches have a hidden recess which may have contained small lead weights to make the precious metal used seem more valuable than it actually was. In Ireland, the head of the pin might be turned into a focus for decoration, sometimes using a "kite"-shaped plate, such as that on the Tara Brooch; in Scotland, the pin-heads were simple circles formed by bending the pin back on itself. Scottish terminals are more often distinct lobed or square shapes extending beyond the circle of the ring on both sides, while in Irish examples, the terminals typically extend inside the ring forming another curve, but not much outside it, or sometimes form a straight line across the interior of the ring. Irish brooches may only join the two terminals by narrow strips, or not only eliminate the gap entirely, but have a central zone of decoration where the gap between the terminals would have been; the brooches found with the Ardagh Chalice
show both types.
The main body was normally cast, and a number of elements of two-piece moulds have been found. Many brooches have cells for studs or bosses that are most often round hemispheres, but may be square, lozenges or other shapes; very often the studs themselves are now missing. These are in a variety of materials including glass, enamel, amber
, and gemstones found locally, although not including any of the classic modern "precious stones", or even the garnet
s found in Anglo-Saxon jewellery. However the millefiori
glass rods sometimes used apppear to have been imported from Italy, like those used in the Anglo-Saxon jewellery from Sutton Hoo
; examples of the rods have been excavated in both Ireland and England. Like the Insular chalices and other metalwork, the very ornate Irish brooches were mostly made in many pieces which are pinned or slotted together. Filigree decoration was often made on "trays" which fitted into the main ring — on the Tara Brooch many of these are now missing (most were still in place when it was found in 1850).
Techniques include chip-carving, cast "imitation chip-carving", filigree
, engraving
, inlays of various types including niello
, glass and champlevé
enamel, and various hammering and chasing techniques: "the range of materials and techniques is almost the full range known to man." Two techniques that do not appear are the "true pierced openwork interasile, much used in Byzantine jewellery", and the cloisonné
work that typified much Western European jewellery, and especially large fibulae, at the time, whether in enamel or stone inlays like the garnets used so effectively at Sutton Hoo and in the Anglo-Saxon Staffordshire Hoard
. In the gilded brooches, enamel is restricted to studs that punctuate the composition like gems; the larger areas of champlevé found on the flared terminals of earlier types perhaps continue in simpler types, though dating is difficult.
On some brooches the decoration is too detailed to be appreciated when the brooch is being worn, and some of the most elaborate brooches have their backs, invisible when worn, decorated almost as elaborately as their fronts. The Tara Brooch shows both features, and in addition, shares with some others a difference in decorative styles between front and back, with "Celtic" triskeles and other spiral motifs restricted to the back, while the front has more interlace
and zoomorphic elements. These features are also shared by the most ornate brooches in London and Edinburgh, respectively the Londesborough and Hunterston Brooch
es. This may be because decoration on the backs relies more on engraving than filigree, which would risk wires getting caught in the clothing on which the brooch was worn.
Few of the major brooches, or indeed other metalwork, have been found in contexts that can be easily dated, and much of the dating of at least the earlier ones comes from comparison with Insular illuminated manuscript
s, though the dating of these is often itself far from certain. The Tara Brooch has long been recognised as having clear stylistic similarities to the Lindisfarne Gospels
, thought to date to about 698–715. Many of the similarities are to the carpet page
s, highly detailed ornamental pages filled with decoration, which share with the brooch a certain horror vacui
that leaves no area unembellished, and also complex decoration that is extremely small and perfectly executed, and best appreciated when seen at a larger than actual scale, whether in the original or in photographs. Both combine elements from many stylistic origins into a style that is distinctly Insular: La Tene Celtic art, Germanic animal style
, and classical and other Mediterranean styles.
in particular. However, although the Vikings established several longphort
s, initially fortified encampments for over-wintering, and later towns like Dublin, Wexford
, Cork
, and Waterford
(the first real urban centres in Ireland), the native Irish were more successful than the English and Scots in preventing large-scale Viking takeovers of areas for settlement by farmers. By about the year 1000, the situation was relatively stable, with a mixed population of Norse-Gaels
in the towns and areas close to them, while the Gaelic Irish, whose elite had often formed political alliances, trading partnerships and inter-marriages with Viking leaders, remained in control of the great majority of the island, and were able to draw tribute from the Viking towns.
The period is characterised by a greatly increased availability of silver, presumably the result of Viking raiding and trading, and most brooches are made from silver throughout, as gilding and decoration in other materials nearly disappears. The brooches are often large and relatively massive, but plainer than the most elaborate earlier ones, neither using older local decorative styles nor the Viking styles that were adopted in other media. This continues a trend that can be detected in later brooches from the preceding period, before much Viking influence can have made itself felt. The 9th century Roscrea Brooch is one of a number of transitional brooches; though its form is highly ornate, with a large flat triangular pin head, the ring is thick plain silver, the gold filigree panels occupy relatively small areas, and their workmanship is a "coarse" or "crude" imitation of that of earlier works. The Kilamery Brooch is a comparable example, with a marked emphasis on plain flat silver surfaces. There are rare exceptions in which a highly decorated brooch shows Scandinavian stylistic and technical influence, notably an Irish brooch from Rathlin Island
, with areas stamped where the Irish tradition would have used casting.
The brooches appear to have been made by "native" metalworkers, but worn by both Vikings and Gaels. The very popular thistle brooches have terminals and often pin-heads that are like thistle
flowers, with a ball topped by a round projection, often flared; they are called by the term regardless of whether or not the ball is "brambled"—that is, formed with a regular pattern of small tapering projections, like the two lowest brooches from the Penrith Hoard
illustrated here. These, and other globular endings to terminals and pin-heads, were common, but flattened terminals continued to be made, now ornamented by round silver bosses amid simple repeated patterns, or interlace that is larger in scale than in the earlier ornate badges. In these, the ring often ends in a "gripping beast" biting the terminal plate. The mixture of types seen in the 10th century Penrith Hoard is typical.
Insular brooches had been taken back to Scandinavia, and began to be produced there in the 10th century for wearing singly by men at the shoulder; Viking women wore pairs of characteristic oval brooches on the upper breast. Most were simpler than Insular examples, and several hundred examples in "tinned bronze rather than silver" are known. The 10th century Danish Møllerløkken Brooch is the most elaborate example known, with a simple overall design with ball terminals and pin-head, but with rich detailing such as interlace panels on the ring and filigree sections on the balls. Other Insular types were also produced in Viking areas of England, especially Scandinavian York. The penannular brooch fell from common use by the end of the 11th century, a time when Ireland and Scotland, and Scandinavia, were adopting general Western European styles in many areas of both art and life.
A distinctly Irish type of brooch found at the end of the Viking period is the kite brooch, whose name derives from the almond
shape called a "kite" in heraldry
, though the shapes of the heads are actually highly variable. They were apparently worn, like the larger brooches, singly with the pin pointing upwards. Only "about half a dozen" exist in silver, including examples that are much larger than average, with pins up to 7.9 cm long. In these, there is no ring, but the elaborate head is connected to a pin of very variable length by a short tab of metal that can move on joints at both ends; there is also usually a cord for winding round the pin to secure it. Only 14 of these brooches have been found to date in Ireland, many incomplete, and none elsewhere; five of these are from Dublin, the earliest from the 940s. They appear for about a further two centuries; by around 1200, typical medieval ring brooches that have little distinctively Irish about them are found instead.
, many brooches copying or inspired by earlier styles were made.
Much of the responsibility for the fashion for high-quality Celtic Revival jewellery belongs to George Waterhouse, a jeweller from Sheffield
, England, who moved to Dublin in 1842. Before the end of the decade, he and the long-established Dublin firm West & Son
of College Green
(later moving to Grafton Street) were finding it necessary to register their designs to prevent copying. Of the various types of objects made, the brooches were both the "most resonant" and those which could be sold with the least alteration to the original form and design, although the jewellers generally reduced their size and fitted them with conventional pins and catches behind, even though the Kashmir shawls that were also fashionable at the time were often loosely woven and not unsuitable for fastening in the original way. Different versions were made at different price levels, though even the most expensive struggled to recreate the full intricacy of the originals.
The National Museum of Ireland
is clearly not correct in saying that the fashion began after Queen Victoria
was presented with a replica
of the "Cavan Brooch" on her visit to Dublin to see the Great Industrial Exhibition
in 1853; the Royal Collection
has two brooches that Prince Albert bought for her from West & Son in 1849 on an earlier visit to Dublin, which were already being made in editions. Albert presented them in November and at Christmas that year: "...such beautiful souvenirs, both made after those very curious old Irish ornaments we saw in the College
in Dublin, one a silver shawl brooch, in smaller size than the original" was her reaction to the November gift. A later gift from Albert included a setting of a cairngorm
he had picked up when walking in the Scottish Highlands
, a more authentic type of gem than the brightly coloured foreign stones used in much Celtic Revival jewellery.
The discovery of the Tara Brooch
in 1850 could therefore not have been better timed in terms of attracting public interest. The brooch was immediately recognised as the culminating masterpiece (though early in date) of the Irish development of large and superbly worked ornate brooches, a status it has retained ever since. The brooch was soon acquired by George Waterhouse, who used it as the centre of displays of his replicas and imitations of Celtic brooches in his Dublin shop, also exhibiting it at The Great Exhibition
in London in 1851 and the Paris Exposition Universelle (1855)
, as well as the Dublin exhibition visited by the Queen in 1853 (Victoria had already seen it; it had been specially sent to Windsor Castle
for her inspection). Waterhouse had invented the brooch's name; in fact, it has nothing to do with the Hill of Tara
, but the true circumstances of its find still remain unclear (essentially to avoid a claim by the landowner), and Waterhouse chose to link it to the site associated with the High King
s of Ireland, "fully aware that this would feed the Irish middle-class fantasy of being descended from them". By the time the brooch passed to what is now the National Museum of Ireland
in the 1870s, "Tara brooch" had become a generic term for Celtic Revival brooches, some of which were now being made by India
n workshops for export to Europe. Replicas, very rarely fully accurate, and imitations of Celtic brooches have continued to be made to the present day, at varying levels of quality.
women in the Maghreb
, usually worn in pairs and apparently pinning straps of a dress to the bodice, with the pins pointing straight up. They are usually large, fairly plain, brooches, not unlike some Viking examples, though another style has a very elaborately decorated head to the pin, which can dwarf the ring. A heavy necklace often hangs between the two brooches, sometimes attached to a ring hanging from the head of the pin. Most of the women are identified as Berber. Local names for the brooches apparently include melia, melehfa, bzima, kitfiyya, and khellala in Arabic
, and tabzimt, tizerzay, and tazersit in Berber
. Such styles are believed to have been in use since pre-Islamic times.
Brooch
A brooch ; also known in ancient times as a fibula; is a decorative jewelry item designed to be attached to garments. It is usually made of metal, often silver or gold but sometimes bronze or some other material...
clothes fasteners, often rather large. They are especially associated with the beginning of the Early Medieval period in the British Isles
British Isles
The British Isles are a group of islands off the northwest coast of continental Europe that include the islands of Great Britain and Ireland and over six thousand smaller isles. There are two sovereign states located on the islands: the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and...
, although they are found in other times and places—for example, forming part of traditional female dress in areas in modern North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...
.
Beginning as utilitarian fasteners in the Iron Age
Iron Age
The Iron Age is the archaeological period generally occurring after the Bronze Age, marked by the prevalent use of iron. The early period of the age is characterized by the widespread use of iron or steel. The adoption of such material coincided with other changes in society, including differing...
and Roman period, they are especially associated with the highly ornate brooches produced in precious metal for the elites of Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
and Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
from about 700 to 900, which are popularly known as Celtic brooches or similar terms. They are the most significant objects in high-quality secular metalwork from Early Medieval Celtic art
Celtic art
Celtic art is the art associated with the peoples known as Celts; those who spoke the Celtic languages in Europe from pre-history through to the modern period, as well as the art of ancient peoples whose language is uncertain, but have cultural and stylistic similarities with speakers of Celtic...
, or Insular art
Insular art
Insular art, also known as Hiberno-Saxon art, is the style of art produced in the post-Roman history of Ireland and Great Britain. The term derives from insula, the Latin term for "island"; in this period Britain and Ireland shared a largely common style different from that of the rest of Europe...
, as art historians prefer to call it. The type continued in simpler forms such as the thistle brooch into the 11th century, during what is often known as the Viking
Viking
The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...
Age in Ireland and Scotland.
Both penannular and pseudo-penannular brooches feature a long pin attached by its head to a ring; the pin can move freely around the ring as far as the terminals, which are close together. In the true penannular type, the ring is not closed; there is a gap between the terminals wide enough for the pin to pass through. In the pseudo-penannular type, the ring is closed, but there are still two separately defined terminals, which are joined by a further element. The penannular type is a simple and efficient way of fastening loosely woven cloth (where the pin will not leave a permanent hole), but the pseudo-penannular type is notably less efficient.
The brooches were worn by both men and women, usually singly at the shoulder by men and on the breast by women, and with the pin pointing up; an Irish law code says that in the event of injury from a pin to another person, the wearer is not at fault if the pin did not project too far and the brooch was worn in these ways by the sexes. The most elaborate examples were clearly significant expressions of status at the top of society, which were also worn by clergy, at least in Ireland, though probably to fasten cope
Cope
The cope is a liturgical vestment, a very long mantle or cloak, open in front and fastened at the breast with a band or clasp. It may be of any liturgical colour....
s and other vestment
Vestment
Vestments are liturgical garments and articles associated primarily with the Christian religion, especially among Latin Rite and other Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Anglicans, and Lutherans...
s rather than as everyday wear. The Senchas Mhor, an early Irish law tract, specified that the sons of major kings, when being fostered, should have "brooches of gold having crystal inserted in them", while the sons of minor kings need wear only silver brooches.
Terminology
"Annular" means formed as a ring and "penannular" formed as an incomplete ring; both terms have a range of uses. "Pseudo-penannular" is a coinage restricted to brooches, and refers to those brooches where there is no opening in the ring, but the design retains features of a penannular brooch—for example, emphasizing two terminals. Some pseudo-penannular brooches are very similar in design to other penannular brooches, but have a small section joining the two terminals. Others have fully joined terminals, and emphasize in their design the central area where the gap would be—for example the Tara Brooch. Pseudo-penannular brooches may also be described as "annular", or as "ring brooches". The terms "open brooch" or "open ring brooch" are also sometimes used for penannular brooches. There is a scheme of classification originally set out, in relation to earlier types, by Elizabeth Fowler in the 1960s, which has since been extended in various versions to cover later types.Brooches of either penannular or annular type, where the pin is very large in relation to the ring, so that the ring cannot play any part in the fastening of the brooch, may be called "ring brooches", "pin brooches", or "brooch-pins"; or, especially where the ring is small and plain, "ringed pins". In these, the design of the pin head typically shows that the pin is intended to sit underneath the ring (seen from the front), rather than on top of it as in the larger brooches.
"Celtic" is a term avoided by specialists in describing objects, and especially artistic styles, of the Early Middle Ages from the British Isles, but is firmly fixed in the popular mind. The term Insular art
Insular art
Insular art, also known as Hiberno-Saxon art, is the style of art produced in the post-Roman history of Ireland and Great Britain. The term derives from insula, the Latin term for "island"; in this period Britain and Ireland shared a largely common style different from that of the rest of Europe...
is used to describe the distinct style of art originating in the British Isles and combining Germanic, Celtic, Pictish and Mediterranean elements. Although some simpler and relatively early penannular brooches are found in Anglo-Saxon
Anglo-Saxon
Anglo-Saxon may refer to:* Anglo-Saxons, a group that invaded Britain** Old English, their language** Anglo-Saxon England, their history, one of various ships* White Anglo-Saxon Protestant, an ethnicity* Anglo-Saxon economy, modern macroeconomic term...
contexts, and some sub-types predominantly so, as far as is known the Anglo-Saxons did not use these brooch styles for prestige elite jewellery. However, there are elements in the style of Irish and Scottish brooches deriving from Anglo-Saxon art
Anglo-Saxon art
Anglo-Saxon art covers art produced within the Anglo-Saxon period of English history, beginning with the Migration period style that the Anglo-Saxons brought with them from the continent in the 5th century, and ending in 1066 with the Norman Conquest of a large Anglo-Saxon nation-state whose...
, and related to Insular work in other media, especially illuminated manuscript
Illuminated manuscript
An illuminated manuscript is a manuscript in which the text is supplemented by the addition of decoration, such as decorated initials, borders and miniature illustrations...
s.
Fibula is Latin for "brooch" and is used in modern languages to describe the many types of Roman and post-Roman Early Medieval brooches with pins and catches behind the main face of the brooch. The brooches discussed here are sometimes also called fibulae, but rarely by English-speaking specialists.
Fastening the brooches
With a penannular brooch, the pin is pushed through folds of the cloth, which are then pulled back inside the ring; the free end of the pin passes through the gap in the ring. The pin is then rotated around the ring by 90 degrees or so, so that as long as the pin is held down by slight pressure it cannot escape over the terminals, and the fastening is secure.With pseudo-penannular brooches, things are not so simple and the manner in which they were used is still debated; the method was probably not the same for all brooches. One method may have been to pull folds of the cloth through the ring until they could be pierced by the pin, and then pull the cloth back until the pin rested on the ring. This would work best with brooches with a pin not much longer than the diameter of the ring, which some have, but others do not. The second method might have been simply to pin the cloth vertically, leaving the ring hanging unattached to the cloth; this does not seem very secure. The third method relied on a length of chain or cord attached to the ring near the "terminals" (which in pseudo-penannular brooches do not actually terminate), which was used to secure the pin by tying it down, perhaps with a small pin at the end, which was also put through the cloth. The Tara Brooch
Tara Brooch
The Tara Brooch is a Celtic brooch of about 700 AD generally considered to be the most impressive of over 50 elaborate Irish brooches to have been discovered...
was probably fastened in this way. In some cases the pin was fitted with a bolt or rivet to make it removable. A further complication is that in some pseudo-penannular brooches the pin is fixed to lie in front of the ring, as in the Londesborough Brooch (below), but in others it crosses through the ring, starting with the head end in front of the ring, but the middle of the pin behind the ring by the point where it crosses at the other side; the Tara Brooch has been displayed set up in both ways. The latter arrangement seems more common in later brooches, of the 9th century.
It is fair to say that scholars remain slightly puzzled that the effective and simple penannular brooch developed in this direction, though it is presumed that the reuniting of the terminals of pseudo-penannular brooches was partly to strengthen the brooch. In many penannular brooches, the gap between the terminals is now too narrow for the pin to pass through; whether this was always the case is uncertain.
Roman and early Insular period
Vitreous enamel
Vitreous enamel, also porcelain enamel in U.S. English, is a material made by fusing powdered glass to a substrate by firing, usually between 750 and 850 °C...
decoration, and the pin did not extend much beyond the ring. These are found especially in southwestern Britain and Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
, and seem to have developed in these areas. This type fell from favour in southern Britain by the 5th century, but was developed in Ireland by the 6–7th centuries. These types considerably extended the size of the terminals, which now presented a flattish area often decorated with enamel or glass inlay, mostly using abstracted patterns but sometimes zoomorphic decoration. The length of the pin is now often about twice the diameter of the ring. The Irish cultural zone in this period included much of Western Scotland, and in Pict
PICT
PICT is a graphics file format introduced on the original Apple Macintosh computer as its standard metafile format. It allows the interchange of graphics , and some limited text support, between Mac applications, and was the native graphics format of QuickDraw.The original version, PICT 1, was...
ish East Scotland a similar development took place, though the forms are somewhat different here. The decoration paralleled that on other metalwork fittings such as pieces of harness-tackle, and the few remaining early Christian reliquaries and other pieces of church metalwork.
Golden Age
By shortly after 700, highly elaborate, large brooches in precious metal and gems were being produced. These were clearly expressions of high status for the wearer, and use the full repertoire of goldsmithGoldsmith
A goldsmith is a metalworker who specializes in working with gold and other precious metals. Since ancient times the techniques of a goldsmith have evolved very little in order to produce items of jewelry of quality standards. In modern times actual goldsmiths are rare...
's techniques at a very high level of skill. They continued to be produced for about 200 years; the Pictish brooches are much more homogeneous in design than the Irish ones, which may indicate a shorter period of production, possibly from "the mid-eighth to the beginning of the ninth centuries". Each surviving design is unique, but the range of types established in the more modest earlier brooches are developed and elaborated upon. There was no previous tradition of very ornate brooches in Ireland, and this development may have come from contact with Continental elites who wore large fibulae as marks of status. Such contacts were certainly made, especially by travelling monks.
Archaeological, and some literary, evidence suggests that brooches in precious metal were a mark of royal status, along with wearing a purple cloak, and it is probably as such that they are worn by Christ
Christ
Christ is the English term for the Greek meaning "the anointed one". It is a translation of the Hebrew , usually transliterated into English as Messiah or Mashiach...
on a high cross
High cross
A high cross or standing cross is a free-standing Christian cross made of stone and often richly decorated. There was a unique Early Medieval tradition in Ireland and Britain of raising large sculpted stone crosses, usually outdoors...
at Monasterboice
Monasterboice
The historic ruins of Monasterboice are of an early Christian settlement in County Louth in Ireland, north of Drogheda. It was founded in the late 5th century by Saint Buithe who died around 521, and was an important centre of religion and learning until the founding of nearby Mellifont Abbey in...
and by the Virgin Mary on another. All surviving examples, numbering over 50 (not all complete) in the case of the Irish ones, have been recovered by excavation, or at least finding in the ground, but where the detailed circumstances of the find are known, few are from graves, and finds in hoards are much more common. When they were in graves, the burials are often much later than the date of the brooch, as in a brooch in the Irish 8th century style found in a Norse burial in Westray
Westray
Westray is one of the Orkney Islands in Scotland, with a population of around 550 people. Its main village is Pierowall, with a heritage centre, the ruined Lady Kirk and ferries to Papa Westray.-Geography and geology:...
, Orkney, and possibly the Kilmainham Brooch. Elaborate brooches often have one or more names—presumed to be those of owners—scratched on the reverse, often in runes. Plainer brooches in bronze and similar alloys continue to be found in much larger numbers.
The most elaborate Irish brooches are pseudo-penannular, while the Scottish ones mostly retain true penannular forms. Most are silver-gilt
Silver-gilt
Silver-gilt or gilded/gilt silver, sometimes known in American English by the French term vermeil, is silver gilded with gold. Most large objects made in goldsmithing that appear to be gold are actually silver-gilt; for example most sporting trophies, medals , and many crown jewels...
, the gilding often partial. Some are gilded base metal, of bronze or copper-alloy; only one solid gold Irish brooch is known, a 9th century one from Loughan, County Londonderry
County Londonderry
The place name Derry is an anglicisation of the old Irish Daire meaning oak-grove or oak-wood. As with the city, its name is subject to the Derry/Londonderry name dispute, with the form Derry preferred by nationalists and Londonderry preferred by unionists...
, which is less elaborate than most of the series, though the standard of work is very high. However, some brooches have a hidden recess which may have contained small lead weights to make the precious metal used seem more valuable than it actually was. In Ireland, the head of the pin might be turned into a focus for decoration, sometimes using a "kite"-shaped plate, such as that on the Tara Brooch; in Scotland, the pin-heads were simple circles formed by bending the pin back on itself. Scottish terminals are more often distinct lobed or square shapes extending beyond the circle of the ring on both sides, while in Irish examples, the terminals typically extend inside the ring forming another curve, but not much outside it, or sometimes form a straight line across the interior of the ring. Irish brooches may only join the two terminals by narrow strips, or not only eliminate the gap entirely, but have a central zone of decoration where the gap between the terminals would have been; the brooches found with the Ardagh Chalice
Ardagh Chalice
The Ardagh Hoard, best known for the Ardagh Chalice, is a hoard of metalwork from the 8th and 9th centuries, found in 1868 and now in the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin...
show both types.
The main body was normally cast, and a number of elements of two-piece moulds have been found. Many brooches have cells for studs or bosses that are most often round hemispheres, but may be square, lozenges or other shapes; very often the studs themselves are now missing. These are in a variety of materials including glass, enamel, amber
Amber
Amber is fossilized tree resin , which has been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since Neolithic times. Amber is used as an ingredient in perfumes, as a healing agent in folk medicine, and as jewelry. There are five classes of amber, defined on the basis of their chemical constituents...
, and gemstones found locally, although not including any of the classic modern "precious stones", or even the garnet
Garnet
The garnet group includes a group of minerals that have been used since the Bronze Age as gemstones and abrasives. The name "garnet" may come from either the Middle English word gernet meaning 'dark red', or the Latin granatus , possibly a reference to the Punica granatum , a plant with red seeds...
s found in Anglo-Saxon jewellery. However the millefiori
Millefiori
Millefiori is a glasswork technique which produces distinctive decorative patterns on glassware.The term millefiori is a combination of the Italian words "mille" and "fiori" . Apsley Pellatt was the first to use the term "millefiori", which appeared in the Oxford Dictionary in 1849...
glass rods sometimes used apppear to have been imported from Italy, like those used in the Anglo-Saxon jewellery from Sutton Hoo
Sutton Hoo
Sutton Hoo, near to Woodbridge, in the English county of Suffolk, is the site of two 6th and early 7th century cemeteries. One contained an undisturbed ship burial including a wealth of Anglo-Saxon artefacts of outstanding art-historical and archaeological significance, now held in the British...
; examples of the rods have been excavated in both Ireland and England. Like the Insular chalices and other metalwork, the very ornate Irish brooches were mostly made in many pieces which are pinned or slotted together. Filigree decoration was often made on "trays" which fitted into the main ring — on the Tara Brooch many of these are now missing (most were still in place when it was found in 1850).
Techniques include chip-carving, cast "imitation chip-carving", filigree
Filigree
Filigree is a delicate kind of jewellery metalwork made with twisted threads usually of gold and silver or stitching of the same curving motifs. It often suggests lace, and in recent centuries remains popular in Indian and other Asian metalwork, and French from 1660 to the late 19th century...
, engraving
Engraving
Engraving is the practice of incising a design on to a hard, usually flat surface, by cutting grooves into it. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or glass are engraved, or may provide an intaglio printing plate, of copper or another metal, for printing...
, inlays of various types including niello
Niello
Niello is a black mixture of copper, silver, and lead sulphides, used as an inlay on engraved or etched metal. It can be used for filling in designs cut from metal...
, glass and champlevé
Champlevé
Champlevé is an enamelling technique in the decorative arts, or an object made by that process, in which troughs or cells are carved or cast into the surface of a metal object, and filled with vitreous enamel. The piece is then fired until the enamel melts, and when cooled the surface of the object...
enamel, and various hammering and chasing techniques: "the range of materials and techniques is almost the full range known to man." Two techniques that do not appear are the "true pierced openwork interasile, much used in Byzantine jewellery", and the cloisonné
Cloisonné
Cloisonné is an ancient technique for decorating metalwork objects, in recent centuries using vitreous enamel, and in older periods also inlays of cut gemstones, glass, and other materials. The resulting objects can also be called cloisonné...
work that typified much Western European jewellery, and especially large fibulae, at the time, whether in enamel or stone inlays like the garnets used so effectively at Sutton Hoo and in the Anglo-Saxon Staffordshire Hoard
Staffordshire Hoard
The Staffordshire Hoard is the largest hoard of Anglo-Saxon gold and silver metalwork . Discovered in a field near the village of Hammerwich, near Lichfield, in Staffordshire, England on 5 July 2009, it consists of some 3,500 items that are nearly all martial in character...
. In the gilded brooches, enamel is restricted to studs that punctuate the composition like gems; the larger areas of champlevé found on the flared terminals of earlier types perhaps continue in simpler types, though dating is difficult.
On some brooches the decoration is too detailed to be appreciated when the brooch is being worn, and some of the most elaborate brooches have their backs, invisible when worn, decorated almost as elaborately as their fronts. The Tara Brooch shows both features, and in addition, shares with some others a difference in decorative styles between front and back, with "Celtic" triskeles and other spiral motifs restricted to the back, while the front has more interlace
Interlace (visual arts)
In the visual arts, interlace is a decorative element found in medieval art. In interlace, bands or portions of other motifs are looped, braided, and knotted in complex geometric patterns, often to fill a space. Islamic interlace patterns and Celtic knotwork share similar patterns, suggesting a...
and zoomorphic elements. These features are also shared by the most ornate brooches in London and Edinburgh, respectively the Londesborough and Hunterston Brooch
Hunterston Brooch
The Hunterston Brooch is a highly important Celtic brooch of "pseudo-penannular" type found near Hunterston, North Ayrshire, Scotland, in either, according to one account, 1826 by two men from West Kilbride, who were digging drains at the foot of Goldenberry Hill, or in 1830. It is now in the Royal...
es. This may be because decoration on the backs relies more on engraving than filigree, which would risk wires getting caught in the clothing on which the brooch was worn.
Few of the major brooches, or indeed other metalwork, have been found in contexts that can be easily dated, and much of the dating of at least the earlier ones comes from comparison with Insular illuminated manuscript
Illuminated manuscript
An illuminated manuscript is a manuscript in which the text is supplemented by the addition of decoration, such as decorated initials, borders and miniature illustrations...
s, though the dating of these is often itself far from certain. The Tara Brooch has long been recognised as having clear stylistic similarities to the Lindisfarne Gospels
Lindisfarne Gospels
The Lindisfarne Gospels is an illuminated Latin manuscript of the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John in the British Library...
, thought to date to about 698–715. Many of the similarities are to the carpet page
Carpet page
Carpet pages are a characteristic feature of Insular illuminated manuscripts. They are pages of mainly geometrical ornamentation, which may include repeated animal forms, typically placed at the beginning of each of the four Gospels in Gospel Books...
s, highly detailed ornamental pages filled with decoration, which share with the brooch a certain horror vacui
Horror vacui
thumb|Many paintings by [[Outsider Art]]ist [[Adolf Wölfli]] contain space filled with writing or musical notationIn visual art, horror vacui is the filling of the entire surface of an artwork with detail....
that leaves no area unembellished, and also complex decoration that is extremely small and perfectly executed, and best appreciated when seen at a larger than actual scale, whether in the original or in photographs. Both combine elements from many stylistic origins into a style that is distinctly Insular: La Tene Celtic art, Germanic animal style
Animal style
Animal style art is characterized by its emphasis on animal and bird motifs, and the term describes an approach to decoration which existed from China to Northern Europe in the early Iron Age, and the barbarian art of the Migration Period...
, and classical and other Mediterranean styles.
Later brooches, and the Vikings
The Vikings began to raid Ireland from 795, with catastophic effect for the monasteriesMonastery
Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...
in particular. However, although the Vikings established several longphort
Longphort
A longphort is a term used in Ireland for a Viking ship enclosure or shore fortress. Longphorts were originally built to serve as camps for the raiding parties in...
s, initially fortified encampments for over-wintering, and later towns like Dublin, Wexford
Wexford
Wexford is the county town of County Wexford, Ireland. It is situated near the southeastern corner of Ireland, close to Rosslare Europort. The town is connected to Dublin via the M11/N11 National Primary Route, and the national rail network...
, Cork
Cork (city)
Cork is the second largest city in the Republic of Ireland and the island of Ireland's third most populous city. It is the principal city and administrative centre of County Cork and the largest city in the province of Munster. Cork has a population of 119,418, while the addition of the suburban...
, and Waterford
Waterford
Waterford is a city in the South-East Region of Ireland. It is the oldest city in the country and fifth largest by population. Waterford City Council is the local government authority for the city and its immediate hinterland...
(the first real urban centres in Ireland), the native Irish were more successful than the English and Scots in preventing large-scale Viking takeovers of areas for settlement by farmers. By about the year 1000, the situation was relatively stable, with a mixed population of Norse-Gaels
Norse-Gaels
The Norse–Gaels were a people who dominated much of the Irish Sea region, including the Isle of Man, and western Scotland for a part of the Middle Ages; they were of Gaelic and Scandinavian origin and as a whole exhibited a great deal of Gaelic and Norse cultural syncretism...
in the towns and areas close to them, while the Gaelic Irish, whose elite had often formed political alliances, trading partnerships and inter-marriages with Viking leaders, remained in control of the great majority of the island, and were able to draw tribute from the Viking towns.
The period is characterised by a greatly increased availability of silver, presumably the result of Viking raiding and trading, and most brooches are made from silver throughout, as gilding and decoration in other materials nearly disappears. The brooches are often large and relatively massive, but plainer than the most elaborate earlier ones, neither using older local decorative styles nor the Viking styles that were adopted in other media. This continues a trend that can be detected in later brooches from the preceding period, before much Viking influence can have made itself felt. The 9th century Roscrea Brooch is one of a number of transitional brooches; though its form is highly ornate, with a large flat triangular pin head, the ring is thick plain silver, the gold filigree panels occupy relatively small areas, and their workmanship is a "coarse" or "crude" imitation of that of earlier works. The Kilamery Brooch is a comparable example, with a marked emphasis on plain flat silver surfaces. There are rare exceptions in which a highly decorated brooch shows Scandinavian stylistic and technical influence, notably an Irish brooch from Rathlin Island
Rathlin Island
Rathlin Island is an island off the coast of County Antrim, and is the northernmost point of Northern Ireland. Rathlin is the only inhabited offshore island in Northern Ireland, with a rising population of now just over 100 people, and is the most northerly inhabited island off the Irish coast...
, with areas stamped where the Irish tradition would have used casting.
The brooches appear to have been made by "native" metalworkers, but worn by both Vikings and Gaels. The very popular thistle brooches have terminals and often pin-heads that are like thistle
Thistle
Thistle is the common name of a group of flowering plants characterised by leaves with sharp prickles on the margins, mostly in the family Asteraceae. Prickles often occur all over the plant – on surfaces such as those of the stem and flat parts of leaves. These are an adaptation that protects the...
flowers, with a ball topped by a round projection, often flared; they are called by the term regardless of whether or not the ball is "brambled"—that is, formed with a regular pattern of small tapering projections, like the two lowest brooches from the Penrith Hoard
Penrith Hoard
The Penrith Hoard is a dispersed hoard of 10th century silver penannular brooches found at Flusco Pike, Newbiggin Moor, Near Penrith in Cumbria, and now in the British Museum in London. The largest "thistle brooch" was discovered in 1785 and another in 1830, with the bulk of items being recovered...
illustrated here. These, and other globular endings to terminals and pin-heads, were common, but flattened terminals continued to be made, now ornamented by round silver bosses amid simple repeated patterns, or interlace that is larger in scale than in the earlier ornate badges. In these, the ring often ends in a "gripping beast" biting the terminal plate. The mixture of types seen in the 10th century Penrith Hoard is typical.
Insular brooches had been taken back to Scandinavia, and began to be produced there in the 10th century for wearing singly by men at the shoulder; Viking women wore pairs of characteristic oval brooches on the upper breast. Most were simpler than Insular examples, and several hundred examples in "tinned bronze rather than silver" are known. The 10th century Danish Møllerløkken Brooch is the most elaborate example known, with a simple overall design with ball terminals and pin-head, but with rich detailing such as interlace panels on the ring and filigree sections on the balls. Other Insular types were also produced in Viking areas of England, especially Scandinavian York. The penannular brooch fell from common use by the end of the 11th century, a time when Ireland and Scotland, and Scandinavia, were adopting general Western European styles in many areas of both art and life.
A distinctly Irish type of brooch found at the end of the Viking period is the kite brooch, whose name derives from the almond
Almond
The almond , is a species of tree native to the Middle East and South Asia. Almond is also the name of the edible and widely cultivated seed of this tree...
shape called a "kite" in heraldry
Heraldry
Heraldry is the profession, study, or art of creating, granting, and blazoning arms and ruling on questions of rank or protocol, as exercised by an officer of arms. Heraldry comes from Anglo-Norman herald, from the Germanic compound harja-waldaz, "army commander"...
, though the shapes of the heads are actually highly variable. They were apparently worn, like the larger brooches, singly with the pin pointing upwards. Only "about half a dozen" exist in silver, including examples that are much larger than average, with pins up to 7.9 cm long. In these, there is no ring, but the elaborate head is connected to a pin of very variable length by a short tab of metal that can move on joints at both ends; there is also usually a cord for winding round the pin to secure it. Only 14 of these brooches have been found to date in Ireland, many incomplete, and none elsewhere; five of these are from Dublin, the earliest from the 940s. They appear for about a further two centuries; by around 1200, typical medieval ring brooches that have little distinctively Irish about them are found instead.
Celtic Revival
The brooches we have today have been discovered since the 17th century, and their odds on their survival once found have increased greatly over that period, as their value as artefacts has overtaken their scrap value. In the 19th century, as part of the Celtic RevivalCeltic Revival
Celtic Revival covers a variety of movements and trends, mostly in the 19th and 20th centuries, which drew on the traditions of Celtic literature and Celtic art, or in fact more often what art historians call Insular art...
, many brooches copying or inspired by earlier styles were made.
Much of the responsibility for the fashion for high-quality Celtic Revival jewellery belongs to George Waterhouse, a jeweller from Sheffield
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...
, England, who moved to Dublin in 1842. Before the end of the decade, he and the long-established Dublin firm West & Son
West Jewellers
West of Grafton Street Ltd. or West Jewellers was a jewellery store which was last located on 33 Grafton Street in Dublin, Ireland. It was considered the oldest European jewellery store and one of the oldest companies in Ireland.-History:...
of College Green
College Green
College Green is a three-sided "square" in the centre of Dublin. On its northern side is a building known today as the Bank of Ireland which until 1800 was Ireland's Parliament House. To its east stands Trinity College Dublin, the only constituent college of the University of Dublin. To its south...
(later moving to Grafton Street) were finding it necessary to register their designs to prevent copying. Of the various types of objects made, the brooches were both the "most resonant" and those which could be sold with the least alteration to the original form and design, although the jewellers generally reduced their size and fitted them with conventional pins and catches behind, even though the Kashmir shawls that were also fashionable at the time were often loosely woven and not unsuitable for fastening in the original way. Different versions were made at different price levels, though even the most expensive struggled to recreate the full intricacy of the originals.
The National Museum of Ireland
National Museum of Ireland
The National Museum of Ireland is the national museum in Ireland. It has three branches in Dublin and one in County Mayo, with a strong emphasis on Irish art, culture and natural history.-Archaeology:...
is clearly not correct in saying that the fashion began after Queen Victoria
Victoria of the United Kingdom
Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....
was presented with a replica
Replica
A replica is a copy closely resembling the original concerning its shape and appearance. An inverted replica complements the original by filling its gaps. It can be a copy used for historical purposes, such as being placed in a museum. Sometimes the original never existed. For example, Difference...
of the "Cavan Brooch" on her visit to Dublin to see the Great Industrial Exhibition
Great Industrial Exhibition (1853)
The Great Industrial Exhibition in 1853 was held in Dublin, Ireland. In its day, it was the largest international event to be held in Ireland. The Irish Industrial Exhibition Building housed the entire fair...
in 1853; the Royal Collection
Royal Collection
The Royal Collection is the art collection of the British Royal Family. It is property of the monarch as sovereign, but is held in trust for her successors and the nation. It contains over 7,000 paintings, 40,000 watercolours and drawings, and about 150,000 old master prints, as well as historical...
has two brooches that Prince Albert bought for her from West & Son in 1849 on an earlier visit to Dublin, which were already being made in editions. Albert presented them in November and at Christmas that year: "...such beautiful souvenirs, both made after those very curious old Irish ornaments we saw in the College
Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin , formally known as the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, was founded in 1592 by letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I as the "mother of a university", Extracts from Letters Patent of Elizabeth I, 1592: "...we...found and...
in Dublin, one a silver shawl brooch, in smaller size than the original" was her reaction to the November gift. A later gift from Albert included a setting of a cairngorm
Smoky quartz
Smoky or smokey quartz is a brown to black variety of quartz. Like other quartz gems, it is a silicon dioxide crystal. The smoky colour results from free silicon, formed from the silicon dioxide by natural irradiation.-Morion:...
he had picked up when walking in the Scottish Highlands
Scottish Highlands
The Highlands is an historic region of Scotland. The area is sometimes referred to as the "Scottish Highlands". It was culturally distinguishable from the Lowlands from the later Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Scots replaced Scottish Gaelic throughout most of the Lowlands...
, a more authentic type of gem than the brightly coloured foreign stones used in much Celtic Revival jewellery.
The discovery of the Tara Brooch
Tara Brooch
The Tara Brooch is a Celtic brooch of about 700 AD generally considered to be the most impressive of over 50 elaborate Irish brooches to have been discovered...
in 1850 could therefore not have been better timed in terms of attracting public interest. The brooch was immediately recognised as the culminating masterpiece (though early in date) of the Irish development of large and superbly worked ornate brooches, a status it has retained ever since. The brooch was soon acquired by George Waterhouse, who used it as the centre of displays of his replicas and imitations of Celtic brooches in his Dublin shop, also exhibiting it at The Great Exhibition
The Great Exhibition
The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations or The Great Exhibition, sometimes referred to as the Crystal Palace Exhibition in reference to the temporary structure in which it was held, was an international exhibition that took place in Hyde Park, London, from 1 May to 15 October...
in London in 1851 and the Paris Exposition Universelle (1855)
Exposition Universelle (1855)
The Exposition Universelle of 1855 was an International Exhibition held on the Champs-Elysées in Paris from May 15 to November 15, 1855. Its full official title was the Exposition Universelle des produits de l'Agriculture, de l'Industrie et des Beaux-Arts de Paris 1855.The exposition was a major...
, as well as the Dublin exhibition visited by the Queen in 1853 (Victoria had already seen it; it had been specially sent to Windsor Castle
Windsor Castle
Windsor Castle is a medieval castle and royal residence in Windsor in the English county of Berkshire, notable for its long association with the British royal family and its architecture. The original castle was built after the Norman invasion by William the Conqueror. Since the time of Henry I it...
for her inspection). Waterhouse had invented the brooch's name; in fact, it has nothing to do with the Hill of Tara
Hill of Tara
The Hill of Tara , located near the River Boyne, is an archaeological complex that runs between Navan and Dunshaughlin in County Meath, Leinster, Ireland...
, but the true circumstances of its find still remain unclear (essentially to avoid a claim by the landowner), and Waterhouse chose to link it to the site associated with the High King
High king
A high king is a king who holds a position of seniority over a group of other kings, without the title of Emperor; compare King of Kings.Rulers who have been termed "high king" include:...
s of Ireland, "fully aware that this would feed the Irish middle-class fantasy of being descended from them". By the time the brooch passed to what is now the National Museum of Ireland
National Museum of Ireland
The National Museum of Ireland is the national museum in Ireland. It has three branches in Dublin and one in County Mayo, with a strong emphasis on Irish art, culture and natural history.-Archaeology:...
in the 1870s, "Tara brooch" had become a generic term for Celtic Revival brooches, some of which were now being made by India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n workshops for export to Europe. Replicas, very rarely fully accurate, and imitations of Celtic brooches have continued to be made to the present day, at varying levels of quality.
Modern North Africa
Penannular brooches are part of traditional dress to the present day among BerberBerber people
Berbers are the indigenous peoples of North Africa west of the Nile Valley. They are continuously distributed from the Atlantic to the Siwa oasis, in Egypt, and from the Mediterranean to the Niger River. Historically they spoke the Berber language or varieties of it, which together form a branch...
women in the Maghreb
Maghreb
The Maghreb is the region of Northwest Africa, west of Egypt. It includes five countries: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and Mauritania and the disputed territory of Western Sahara...
, usually worn in pairs and apparently pinning straps of a dress to the bodice, with the pins pointing straight up. They are usually large, fairly plain, brooches, not unlike some Viking examples, though another style has a very elaborately decorated head to the pin, which can dwarf the ring. A heavy necklace often hangs between the two brooches, sometimes attached to a ring hanging from the head of the pin. Most of the women are identified as Berber. Local names for the brooches apparently include melia, melehfa, bzima, kitfiyya, and khellala in Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
, and tabzimt, tizerzay, and tazersit in Berber
Berber languages
The Berber languages are a family of languages indigenous to North Africa, spoken from Siwa Oasis in Egypt to Morocco , and south to the countries of the Sahara Desert...
. Such styles are believed to have been in use since pre-Islamic times.
Further reading
- Fowler, Elizabeth. The origins and developments of the penannular brooch in Europe, Proceedings of Prehistorical Society, XXVI, 1960, Cambridge, 149–177 (with the next paper initiated the Fowler typology).
- Fowler, Elizabeth. Celtic Metalwork of the fifth and sixth centuries A.D.: A Reappraisal, Archaeological Journal 120 (1963), 99160
- Graham-Campbell, J., Some Viking-Age penannular brooches from Scotland and the origins of the 'thistle-brooch in From the Stone Age to the Fort (Edinburgh, 1983), pp. 310–23
External links
- The Londesborough Brooch
- Hunterston Brooch National Museums of ScotlandNational Museums of ScotlandNational Museums Scotland is the organization that runs several national museums of Scotland. It is one of the country's National Collections, and holds internationally important collections of natural sciences, decorative arts, world cultures, science and technology, and Scottish history and...
- St Ninian's Isle Treasure, National Museums of Scotland
- Victorian web, gallery of "Victorian Jewelry: Celtic Revival Work in Ireland"