Ardagh Hoard
The Ardagh Hoard is a hoard , which in 1868 Ardagh in the Irish county of Limerick was found. It is now in the National Museum of Ireland . The find consists of the so-called “Chalice of Ardagh”, a bronze chalice and four brooches made of gold-plated silver, three of which are closed ring brooches and an early medieval thistle brooch from the late 9th or early 10th century. It is one of the rare hoards with metalwork, under which there is a liturgical vessel, the Chalice of Ardagh . The goblet is one of the eight major pieces in the National Museum of Ireland and, along with the Book of Kells, is an outstanding example of Irish art.
Find history
The hoard was found in 1868 by a boy who was chopping potatoes inside Reerasta Rath , next to Ardagh . The pieces were about three feet below the surface, the smaller items were inside the chalice of Ardagh and were protected by a stone standing on top. The origin of the objects extends from the 8th to the 10th century, which is why it has been concluded that the hoard was probably buried in the 10th century when the Vikings roamed the British Isles .
Found objects
Chalice of Ardagh
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Chalice of Ardagh
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The chalice of Ardagh is a calix ministerialis , i.e. a sacrament chalice that was used to give chalice communion to believers . It is dated to the 8th century. The shape shows it as a variant of a goblet type known from the eastern Mediterranean, which is known from Byzantine silver hoards of the 6th century. Individual features such as the decoration are in the local tradition of Irish art and were transferred to the liturgical vessel. It has been restored twice since it was found, the first time in the 19th century by a jeweler and the second time in 1961 in the workshops of the British Museum . The chalice represents "a 'sample book' of the skills used in metalworking in Ireland at the time."
The bowl and the base of the chalice are made of hammered silver, which was then polished by turning. The handles are also made of silver and were cast using a casting process . The cylindrical shaft and the rings on the bases of the bowl and the foot were cast from bronze that was later gilded, and the profile that was placed on the bowl rim is also made of gilded bronze. The bowl, stem and base of the chalice are held together by a bolt with a square cross-section, the upper end of which can be seen in the bottom of the bowl. On the underside of the foot, the bolt is covered by a mount in which a conical rock crystal and a ring cast from bronze are inserted.
With the exception of a hoop placed close to the rim, the bowl is not decorated; the hoop consists of gold filigree fields with glass bosses in between. On both sides of the chalice there is also a medallion , which is divided into a cross and decorated with gold filigree and cabochons made of glass. The silver surface is dashed below the tire , the names of the apostles are contained in the recesses of the dashed lines . The names are given in the genitive except for two , only the names of Thaddäus and Simon are in the nominative . The letters are stylistically similar to the initials of the Book of Lindisfarne .
The handles arise from two attachments that are decorated with enamel and filigree work and fastened with rivets. Slightly dashed stripes can also be found around the handles, the attachments and the upper edge of the shaft, below the handles and attachments these widen to motifs of animals and human heads. In some of the enamel work of the Attaschen, angular metal grids are inlaid, which is interpreted as an attempt to imitate the cloisonné work of Franconian and Saxon jewelry from this period. The attashes are provided with large humps, which are surrounded by divided channels. In these, a green residue of glue mixed with malachite can be seen, which was used to attach thin amber work .
The notch-cut ornaments as well as the underside of the foot were made using a casting process, represented both intertwined animal motifs and ornamentation of the late Latène style. At the top of the foot edge there are openwork gold-plated copper plates and mesh-like networks of wire.
On the underside of the foot there are pressed copper sheets, the ring below the foot is provided with filigree work and decorations made from notch cuts . There are blue enamel fields, which are provided with C-shaped rolled inserts made of pearl wire, on some of the fields with openwork pieces of mica were attached as a base. The underlay of patterned silver foils under the enamel work on some of the mounts of the goblet speak for the borrowing from the tradition of Franconian and Saxon courts.
The filigree work was often carried out on embossed foil, which can be seen in the gaps. The works consist of pearl wires, twisted wires and gold balls and contain birds and other animals as motifs in addition to simple squiggles, snakes and nooses. The type and type of wire were varied in such a way that depth was created in the sometimes tiny fields and the motifs were thus given life. The quality of the filigree work can otherwise only be found on the tarafibula and the Derrynaflan's paten , the decor is reminiscent of the design of the Book of Kells . The enamel work was at a technically high level, but the work with rock crystal, amber and mica already suggests a departure from the usual techniques and the first attempts at embellishing with semi-precious stones.
Bronze chalice
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Bronze chalice
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The bronze chalice is a calix minor or a calix sanctus , i.e. a celebrant chalice, which is similar in shape and function to the larger silver chalices. Because it was found together with the "Chalice of Argagh", it is a witness to the local production of liturgical vessels. It is dated to the 8th century.
The chalice was already damaged when it was found and its design is a simple hammered vessel, the bowl of which is polished by turning and provided with a recess under the swinging edge. When the hoard was found, the bowl stood on a tubular shaft, but the finder cut it off. The shaft was replaced by a piece of wood in the 19th century, which in turn was replaced by Plexiglas in 1977 . Underneath is a foot that swings out a little.
The use of bronze for the chalice can be explained by the fact that in the traditional Irish story the cross nails of the Arma Christi were made of bronze and this metal was therefore considered to be particularly suitable for liturgical vessels.
Ring brooch (IA: 1874.104)
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Ring brooch
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The largest of the three ring brooches is completely closed, the lower part of the ring is connected with a semicircular plate, the needle head is designed as a trapezoidal end plate. It is made of gilded silver and is dated to the late 8th or early 9th century.
The trapezoidal needle head has small triangular protrusions on the top and sides and is decorated in two rows with Celtic knot patterns. In the middle sits an empty triangular frame, in which a bird figure may have been set; below this frame there is an empty round frame.
The plate is divided into several narrow fields, which are filled with Celtic knot patterns in notch cuts, some of which are made in double lines. In the middle of the plate there are three birds in high relief . In two of them, the feathers of the wings are identified by scale patterns, one of which is damaged on the side, so that a bird shape made of carved leg can be seen under the missing piece of metal , the other is missing the head. The third bird is less decorated than the other two and also smaller, but it is the only one with a modeled tail. At the two ends and at the lower edge of the semicircle there are three round sockets, two of which are empty and one of which contains a hemispherical silver hump with four angular glass inlays. The circlet of the ring is divided into fields and decorated with double knot patterns. On the back there is an incised line around the fibula ring. At the point where the two larger birds are in front, there are two thin plates made of gilded bronze with animal motifs cut into them. It is known from other Irish fibulae that such plates were attached to cover underlying cavities.
The shaft of the needle has a narrow field, which is provided with cast plaited decoration.
The lack of filigree work, the comparatively clumsy execution of the only surviving hump and the plates on the reverse suggest that the fibula was made after the golden age of the magnificent Irish fibulae in the 8th century. According to Michael Ryan, this is supported by the similarity of the bird decorations with decorations on open Scottish ring brooches and the crook of Ekerö .
Ring brooch (IA: 1874.101)
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Ring brooch
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The ring fibula is completely closed, the lower part of the ring is connected with bars that are attached between two quarter-circle plates, the needle head is designed as a rectangular end plate. It is made of gold-plated silver and is dated to the 9th century.
The needle head contains a rectangular field in the middle, in which a diamond-shaped field is embedded. Crouching animals with long snouts and small glass eyes can be seen in the corners, with an apostle's cross in between .
The two quarter-circle plates are connected by three webs with raised smooth edges. In the corners of the panels there are leaf-shaped hollows , the central parts are raised and have square depressions with simple filigree work on perforated foil. Between the fillets there are simple knots in the middle, birds with their heads turned back at the top and animals reminiscent of hippocamps along the curved sides . The bird's eye sockets are empty, while the hippocampus' glass eyes are preserved. On each of the plates there is a round frame, one of which is empty and the other contains an amber cabochon. In contrast to the rest of the brooch, the raised middle parts are not gold-plated. The back has two recessed fields at the points of the front elevations, one of which has a support of two silver plates with gilded cross patterns. On the other hand, this edition is lost, so that a lead filling can be seen underneath.
The shaft of the needle has two diamond-shaped fields, on one of which there are weakly incised knot patterns.
The simple semicircular ring, the square needle head, the square recessed fields with inlaid filigree, the use of amber and the handling of animal motifs are features that can be found on a number of fibulae from the 9th century and are typical of Irish fibulae of this period.
Ring brooch (IA: 1874.102)
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Ring brooch
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The ring brooch is similar to the larger ring brooch (IA: 1874.101) . It is completely closed and has two quarter-circle-shaped plates that are connected with three webs. Its needle head is rectangular and it is made of gold-plated silver. It also has three round sockets and three square recessed fields that are in the same place as the larger fibula. It is dated to the 9th century.
In contrast to the ring brooch (IA: 1874.101), the brooch is not provided with filigree work. The needle head is designed to be square, in the raised central field there is a recessed field. In the corners and on the edges there are oval and round humps with simple notch-cut decor, which are connected by wing-like structures in openwork. In the round frame below the elevation, there are remains of a paste made from a white base material mixed with black particles. It is believed that this was originally used to glue thin amber plates.
The two quarter-circle-shaped plates are decorated on the rounded sides and on the inside with elongated animals, which are executed in openwork. The animals lying on the outer edge have open mouths in which tongues and fangs can be seen and they wear combs or skin flaps on their heads that run out in curlicues. The joints of the animals are represented by humped relief spirals. The animals on the inside have closed mouths, but also tapering heads. Their joints are shown as humps on which other small humps can be seen. These “blackberry-like” humps are an essential element of fibulae of the 9th century and possibly represent a stylistic forerunner of thistle fibulae . On the back of the end plates, two silver plates can be seen, which are divided into a string pattern with cross-shaped gold-plated strips.
The needle shaft has two oval fields decorated with a notch cut on the front and a simple recessed field on the back.
Thistle brooch
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Thistle brooch
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The thistle brooch is made of gilded silver and is dated to the late 9th or early 10th century. Brooches of this type are mainly known from hoard finds from the 10th century, which is why they, as the youngest item in the Ardagh hoard, were often used to date the hoarding.
It consists of a simple, open silver ring with a round cross-section, which ends in gold-plated knobs at the ends. The knobs are decorated with blackberry decor, as is the needle head around the ring, which corresponds in shape and size to the knobs. The needle, which is still round at the top, flattens out towards the bottom to a triangular cross-section. The shaft and the needle head are connected to one another with a pin .
literature
- Joseph Braun : The Christian altarpiece in its being and in its development . Olms, Hildesheim 1973, ISBN 3-487-04890-6 (unchanged reprint of the Munich 1932 edition), pp. 59 , 149 .
- George Coffey: Irish Royal Academy Collection . Guide to the Celtic antiquities of the Christian period preserved in the National Museum, Dublin . Hodges, Dublin 1909. pp. 37-41.
- Edward Richard Wyndham-Quin, 3rd Earl of Dunraven and Mount Earl: On an ancient Chalice and Brooches lately found at Ardagh in the County of Limerick . In: Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy , Vol. 24 (1867/74), Issue 3, pp. 433-454, ISSN 0790-8113
- Victor H. Elbern : The Eucharistic Cup in the Early Middle Ages . In: Journal of the German Association for Art Research , Vol. 17 (1963), pp. 1-76, ISSN 0044-2135
- Victor H. Elbern: A group of insular chalices from the early Middle Ages . In: Ursula Schlegel, Claus Zoege von Manteuffel (Ed.): Festschrift for Peter Metz . De Gruyter, Berlin 1965. pp. 115-123.
- Liam S. Gógan: The Ardagh chalice. A description of the ministral chalice found at Ardagh in county Limerick in the year 1868 . Browne and Nolan, London 1932.
- James Graham-Campbell: Two Groops of Ninth Century Brooches . In: Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquities , Vol. 102 (1972), pp. 113-129.
- Françoise Henry: Irish art in the early Christian period, to 800 AD Cornell University Press, London 1965. pp. 106-115.
- Anthony T. Lucas: Treasures of Ireland. Irish pagan & early Christian art . Viking Press, 1974, ISBN 0-7171-0669-1 , pp. 97-105, 197.
- George Frank Mitchell (ed.): Treasures of early Irish art, 1500 BC to 1500 AC Knopf, New York 1977, pp. 138 and 197 (catalog of the exhibition of the same name, Metropolitan Museum of Art , New York 1977).
- Robert M. Organ: Examination of the Ardagh Chalice - A Case History . In: William Jonathan Young (Ed.): Application of science in examination of works of art. Proceedings of the seminar, June 15-19, 1970 conducted by the Research Laboratory, Museum of Fine Arts . Boston, Mass. 1973. pp. 238-271.
- Joseph Raftery, Adolf Mahr: Christian art in ancient Ireland. Selected objects, illustrated and described, Vol. 2. Hacker Books, New York 1979, ISBN 0-87817-173-8 (unaltered reprint of the Dublin 1941 edition), pp. 142-143.
- Joseph Raftery: Artists and Craftsmen. Irish Art Treasures . National Museum of Ireland, Dublin 1980. p. 36.
- Michael Ryan: The Derrynaflan and other Irish Eucharistic Chalices . In: Próinséas Ní Chatháin, Michael Richter (Ed.): Ireland and Europe in the Early Middle Ages. Texts and transmissions . Four Courts Press, Dublin 1982, ISBN 1-85182-631-9 .
- Michael Ryan: The Ardagh Hoard . In: Hansgeorg Stiegeler, Hansgerd Hellenkemper (ed.): Irish art from three millennia - Thesaurus Hiberniae . Von Zabern, Mainz 1983. ISBN 3-8053-0736-5 . Pp. 124–132 (catalog of the exhibition of the same name, Römisch-Germanisches Museum Cologne, February 26 to June 2, 1983).
- Haakon Sheteling: The Norse Style of Ornamentation in the Viking Settlements . In: Acta Archaeologica , 1948, 76-78, ISSN 0065-101X
Web links
- The Ardagh Hoard in the National Museum of Ireland
- The Chalice of Ardagh in the National Museum of Ireland
Individual evidence
- ↑ 8 Major Pieces in the National Museum of Ireland
- ↑ a b c d e Michael Ryan: The Ardagh Hoard . P. 124.
- ↑ a b c d Michael Ryan: The Ardagh Hoard . P. 125.
- ↑ Illustration of the bottom of the goblet ( Memento of the original from December 12, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Illustration of a medallion ( Memento of the original dated December 12, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Detail illustration of a handle ( Memento of the original from December 13, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Detailed illustration of the edge of the underside of the foot ( memento of the original dated December 13, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Illustration of Primer IA: 1874.104 ( Memento of March 15, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Michael Ryan: The Ardagh Hoard . P. 128.
- ↑ Michael Ryan: The Ardagh Hoard . P. 129.
- ↑ Illustration of Primer IA: 1874.101 ( Memento of March 15, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Michael Ryan: The Ardagh Hoard . P. 130.
- ↑ a b Michael Ryan: The Ardagh Hoard . P. 131.
- ↑ Michael Ryan: The Ardagh Hoard . P. 132.
- ↑ Michael Ryan: The Ardagh Hoard . P. 132.
