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103-493: The Kilmainham Brooch is a late 8th- or early 9th-century Celtic brooch of the "penannular" type (i.e. its ring does not fully close or is incomplete). With a diameter of 9.67 cm, it is a relatively large example, and is made from silver, gold and glass, with filigree and interlace decorations. Like other high-quality brooches of its class, it was probably intended to fasten copes and other vestments rather than for everyday wear, as its precious metal content would have made it

206-408: A camel ) arranged in a single or double row along a flat ferrule made of wood or cardboard. In order to transfer the gold leaf, the hairs are first given a very light coating of adhesive by brushing them against a surface such as the back of the user's hand which has been coated with a thin layer of petroleum jelly (a common misconception is that static electricity causes the gold foil to attach to

309-504: 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 in "tinned bronze rather than silver" are known. The 10th century Danish Møllerløkken Brooch

412-520: A claim by the landowner), and Waterhouse chose to link it to the site associated with the High Kings of Ireland, "fully aware that this would feed the Irish middle-class fantasy of being descended from them". Describing the trend in the mid-20th century, Adolf Mahr described the tendency for giving brooches —and more importantly their replicas— such titles as "fanciful (and sometimes ridiculous)...by

515-579: 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 Brooches . This may be because decoration on the backs relies more on engraving than filigree, which would risk wires getting caught in

618-515: A firm of Dublin jewellers". By the time the Tara brooch passed to what is now the National Museum of Ireland in the 1870s, the "Tara brooch" had become a generic term for Celtic Revival brooches, some of which were now being made by Indian workshops for export to Europe. Penannular brooches are a characteristic type of Berber traditional silver jewellery , worn until the second half of

721-462: A firm of Dublin jewellers". The V&A acquired its copy at the 1851 Exhibition. Celtic brooch 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

824-564: 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,

927-479: 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

1030-464: 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

1133-533: 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

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1236-592: A status symbol for its owner; less expensive Viking-style brooches were typically worn in pairs on women's clothing. The brooch is dated to the late 8th or early 9th century based on its 8th-century design patterns, along with the fact that silver was not easily available in Ireland until the first Viking invasion in AD 795. It was found in the 18th century during an excavation of a Viking burial place in Kilmainham , on

1339-507: A thin layer of bitumen underneath to help adhesion. The next advances involved two simple processes. The first involves gold leaf, which is gold that is hammered or cut into very thin sheets. Gold leaf is often thinner than standard paper today, and when held to the light is semi-transparent. In ancient times it was typically about ten times thicker than today, and perhaps half that in the Middle Ages . If gilding on canvas or on wood,

1442-407: A wide oval compartment or cell bearing traces of red enamel, while the sides are formed from gold plates bounded by twisted wires and interlace decorations. The ring ends on two quadrilobate terminals (i.e., consisting of four lobes each), which are formed from a central square surrounded by semi-circular or crescent lobes, three of which are free, while the fourth is shaped and attached to the arm of

1545-403: 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 a penannular brooch, the pin is pushed through folds of the cloth, which are then pulled back inside

1648-439: Is a type of gilding brush used for transferring sheets of metal leaf to either a surface that has been prepared to accept the leaf or to a gilder's block where the leaf is then cut with a gilder's knife into smaller portions before being transferred to the prepared surface. The hairs on a gilder's tip are usually made of either blue squirrel hair or the hair of a badger (sometimes other hairs are also used, such as that of

1751-551: 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

1854-459: Is commonly used in China, and also called ormolu if it is Western. Methods of gilding include hand application and gluing, typically of gold leaf , chemical gilding, and electroplating , the last also called gold plating . Parcel-gilt (partial gilt) objects are only gilded over part of their surfaces. This may mean that all of the inside, and none of the outside, of a chalice or similar vessel

1957-698: Is from George Waterhouse, a jeweller from Sheffield , England, who moved to Dublin in 1842, and exhibited the Tara and Kilmainham Brooches, and their replicas, at the 1851 Great Exhibition (or "Crystal Palace Exhibition"). An early 20th-century bronze and gilt replica is in the Metropolitan Museum of Art , New York. Both were produced during the Celtic Revival when there was high demand for replicas of objects from Ireland's medieval period, particularly from its "Golden Age of Irish Art", roughly AD 700–1200 (especially for metalwork). Replicas of

2060-681: Is gilded, or that patterns or images are made up by using a combination of gilt and ungilted areas. Gilding gives an object a gold appearance at a fraction of the cost of creating a solid gold object. In addition, a solid gold piece would often be too soft or too heavy for practical use. A gilt surface also does not tarnish as silver does. Modern gilding is applied to numerous and diverse surfaces and by various processes. More traditional techniques still form an important part of framemaking and are sometimes still employed in general woodworking , cabinet -work, decorative painting and interior decoration , bookbinding , and ornamental leather work, and in

2163-465: Is incomplete (does not fully close). It is made from gold, silver and (mostly red) glass and enamel , and is similar in form and material to the better-known Tara and Hunterston Broochs . The frame is made from cast silver and contains cells that once held gold spiral filigree and glass inserts, although some of these are now lost. The ring is outlined by double ridges in high relief , with flat areas reserved for decorative elements. Its top contains

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2266-456: Is mostly flat but repeats the shape of the oval compartment on the front. It has some interlace designs, including two interlocking dogs. The brooch's style has been described as of " Ecclesia - Gothio character" with "fine workmanship", and compared to the Tara example although "not so fine". Although described in 1989 as "probably Irish", it contains structural and decorative designs, including its lobed (ie "hanging") terminals, small cusps, and

2369-573: 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; typical medieval ring brooches dated to after 1200 have few distinctively Irish characteristics. The brooches we have today have been discovered since

2472-433: Is performed by a solution of gold in aqua regia , applied by dipping a linen rag into the solution, burning it, and rubbing the black and heavy ashes on the silver with the finger or a piece of leather or cork. Wet gilding is effected by means of a dilute solution of gold(III) chloride in aqua regia with twice its quantity of ether . The liquids are agitated and allowed to rest, to allow the ether to separate and float on

2575-604: 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

2678-405: Is then applied with a small brush, and as it evaporates it deposits the gold, which can now be heated and polished. For small delicate figures, a pen or a fine brush may be used for laying on the ether solution. The gold(III) chloride can also be dissolved in water in electroless plating wherein the gold is slowly reduced out of solution onto the surface to be gilded. When this technique is used on

2781-423: Is then exposed to heat, before being quenched in water. By this method, the color of the gilding is further improved and brought nearer to that of gold, probably by removing any particles of copper that may have been on the gilt surface. This process, when skillfully carried out, produces gilding of great solidity and beauty. This method of gilding metallic objects was formerly widespread, but fell into disuse as

2884-429: Is usually dated to the late 8th or early 9th centuries as it is seen as transitional in both style and material. Its annular form and use of filigree place it in the 8th-century Irish tradition, while its use of silver, as opposed to gilding , indicates at earliest an early 9th-century origin, that is in the period after the 795 AD Viking invasions of Ireland , when silver became more available to native metalworkers. It

2987-435: Is wrought or chased, the application of mercury before the amalgam is applied allows for it to be more easily spread. When the surface of the metal is plain, the amalgam can be applied to it directly. When no such preparation is applied, the surface to be gilded is simply bitten and cleaned with nitric acid . A deposit of mercury is obtained on a metallic surface by means of quicksilver water, a solution of mercury(II) nitrate ,

3090-453: 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

3193-479: The Lindisfarne Gospels , thought to date to about 698–715. Many of the similarities are to the carpet pages , 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

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3296-600: The Spaniards . The surface is etched with acids, resulting in a surface of porous gold. The porous surface is then burnished down, resulting in a shiny gold surface. The results fooled the conquistadors into thinking they had massive quantities of pure gold. The results startled modern archaeologists , because at first the pieces resemble electroplated articles. Keum-boo is a special Korean technique of silver-gilding, using depletion gilding . The gilding of decorative ceramics has been undertaken for centuries, with

3399-695: The cartouche on the hoop, are reminiscent of the Pictish-syle , indicating that it may be of Northumbrian origin (unlikely), or at least heavily influenced by that style. Brooches of this type are the most common and thus studied form of surviving Irish and Scottish medieval metalworks due both to their then popularity and inherent durability. Examples such as the Kilmainham Brooch were built by skilled craftsmen and their workshops using precious metal, and intended as status symbols for wealthy (and often female) commissioners. The Kilmainham Brooch

3502-475: 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 Revival , 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

3605-410: 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

3708-473: The 20th century by Berber ( endonym : Amazigh) women in the Maghreb . They were usually worn in symmetrical pairs and used to fix parts of unsewn draped garments, one to each side, with the pins pointing straight up. Traditionally made by Jewish silversmiths, some are plain and large brooches, not unlike some later Celtic or Viking examples, and other types have a very elaborately decorated triangular base to

3811-478: The 4th century CE and was used for the gilding of bronze plaques. It was known to Pliny (33,20,64–5), Vitruvius (8,8,4) and in the Early Medieval period to Theophilus (De Diversis Artibus Book III). In Europe, silver-gilt has always been more common than gilt-bronze, but in China the opposite has been the case. The ancient Chinese also developed the gilding of porcelain , which was later taken up by

3914-704: 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 manuscripts . Fibula

4017-779: 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. It

4120-545: The French and other European potters. Mechanical gilding includes all the operations in which gold leaf is prepared, and the processes to mechanically attach the gold onto surfaces. The techniques include burnishing , water gilding and oil-gilding used by wood carvers and gilders; and the gilding operations of the house decorator, sign painter, bookbinder , the paper stainer and several others. Polished iron, steel and other metals are gilded mechanically by applying gold leaf to

4223-409: 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

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4326-504: The Maghreb since ancient times. Gilding Gilding is a decorative technique for applying a very thin coating of gold over solid surfaces such as metal (most common), wood, porcelain , or stone. A gilded object is also described as "gilt". Where metal is gilded, the metal below was traditionally silver in the West, to make silver-gilt (or vermeil ) objects, but gilt-bronze

4429-612: 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 , and while likely found some 28 km away the actual circumstances of its find still remain unclear (essentially to avoid

4532-504: 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

4635-428: 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,

4738-434: The body; the mercury used in the process also evaporates into the atmosphere, thus polluting it. This process has generally been supplanted by the electroplating of gold over a nickel substrate , which is more economical and less dangerous. In depletion gilding, a subtractive process discovered in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica , articles are fabricated by various techniques from an alloy of copper and gold, named tumbaga by

4841-489: The brooch were given the "celebrity" title of the "Knight Templar" Brooch to increase saleability as nationalistic shawl -pins (a naming trend also evident in the titling of the Tara Brooch, which was in reality found 28 km (17 mi) from the Hill of Tara , but was at times named the "Royal Tara Brooch". Adolf Mahr later dismissed the trend for giving brooches —and more importantly, their replicas— such titles as "fanciful   ... and sometimes ridiculous   ... by

4944-534: 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

5047-412: The brush, but this is not so) and then laying the edge of the brush along the edge of the piece of metal foil. The jelly will cause the metal to adhere very gently to the hairs and allow the piece to be floated from the paper surface on which had previously been stored. Because the leaf is so thin, this must be done in a room with extremely still air, and the user of the tip usually does not breathe until

5150-528: 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

5253-606: The classic modern "precious stones", or even the garnets found in Anglo-Saxon jewellery. However the millefiori glass rods sometimes used appear 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

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5356-411: 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 manuscripts , though the dating of these is often itself far from certain. The Tara Brooch has long been recognised as having clear stylistic similarities to

5459-426: The dangers of mercury toxicity became known. Since fire-gilding requires that the mercury be volatilized to drive off the mercury and leave the gold behind on the surface, it is extremely dangerous. Breathing the fumes generated by this process can quickly result in serious health problems, such as neurological damage and endocrine disorders , since inhalation is a very efficient route for mercuric compounds to enter

5562-420: The decorated ware is fired in a kiln to fuse the gold to the glaze and hence ensure its permanence. The most important factors affecting coating quality are the composition of applied gold, the state of the surface before application, the thickness of the layer and the firing conditions. A number of different forms and compositions are available to apply gold to ceramic, and these include: A gilder's tip

5665-541: The decoration of pottery , porcelain, and glass . Herodotus mentions that the Egyptians gilded wood and metals, and many such objects have been excavated. Certain Ancient Greek statues of great prestige were chryselephantine , i.e., made of gold (for the clothing) and ivory (for the flesh); these however, were constructed with sheets of gold over a timber framework, not gilded. Extensive ornamental gilding

5768-424: 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

5871-498: 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

5974-405: The following substances: red ochre , verdigris , copper scales, alum , vitriol , and borax . By this operation the color of the gilding is heightened, as a result of the perfect dissipation of some of the remaining mercury. The gilt surface is then covered over with potassium nitrate , alum or other salts, ground together, and mixed into a paste with water or weak ammonia . The piece of metal

6077-497: The fringe of the city of Dublin in Ireland. Although established as being of Irish origin, its form and decorations seem heavily influenced by both Viking art (in material) and earlier Pictish metalwork (in design and technique). It is held at the Kildare Street , Dublin, branch of the National Museum of Ireland , where it is on permanent display in the "Treasury room". The brooch is classed as penannular as its ring

6180-472: 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

6283-537: 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

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6386-446: The gold as pigment in paint: the artist ground the gold into a fine powder and mixed it with a binder such as gum arabic . The resulting gold paint, called shell gold , was applied in the same way as with any paint. Sometimes, after either gold-leafing or gold-painting, the artist would heat the piece enough to melt the gold slightly, ensuring an even coat. These techniques remained the only alternatives for materials like wood, leather,

6489-467: The gold leaf was layered on using a gilder's tip and left to dry before being burnished with a piece of polished agate . Those gilding on canvas and parchment also sometimes employed stiffly-beaten egg whites ("glair"), gum , and/or Armenian bole as sizing, though egg whites and gum both become brittle over time, causing the gold leaf to crack and detach, and so honey was sometimes added to make them more flexible. Other gilding processes involved using

6592-403: 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

6695-424: The introduction of the technique, with gilding soon being seen used on the walls, vaults and inside the houses of anyone who could afford it, including the poor. Owing to the comparative thickness of the gold leaf used in ancient gilding, the traces of it that remain are remarkably brilliant and solid. Fire-gilding of metal goes back at least to the 4th century BC. Mercury -gilding was invented by Chinese Daoists in

6798-454: The leaf is in place. Once the leaf has settled, it is often burnished with polished piece of agate to achieve a high degree of brilliance. Gilder's tips are necessary because touching the metal leaf with the finger tips would immediately cause the leaf to lose its coherent flattened shape and crumble irretrievably into metallic dust which then cannot be used for any purpose. [REDACTED]   This article incorporates text from

6901-402: The mercury has evaporated, indicated by the surface taking on a dull yellow color, the metal must undergo further steps to exhibit its fine gold color. First, the gilded surface is rubbed with a scratch brush of brass wire, until its surface is smooth. It is then covered with gilding wax, and again exposed to fire until the wax is burnt off. Gilding wax is composed of beeswax mixed with some of

7004-574: The metallic surface at a temperature just under red-hot, pressing the leaf on with a burnisher, then reheating when additional leaf may be laid on. The process is completed by cold burnishing. "Overlaying" or folding or hammering on gold foil or gold leaf is the simplest and most ancient method, and is mentioned in Homer 's Odyssey and the Old Testament . The Ram in a Thicket (2600–2400 BC) from Ur describes this technique used on wood, with

7107-404: The mixture is stirred with an iron rod, the gold is totally absorbed. The proportion of mercury to gold is generally six or eight to one. When the amalgam is cold, it is squeezed through chamois leather to separate the superfluous mercury; the gold, with about twice its weight of mercury, remains behind, forming a yellowish silvery mass with the consistency of butter. When the metal to be gilded

7210-416: 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

7313-430: 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,

7416-462: 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

7519-555: 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 often formed political alliances, trading partnerships and inter-marriages with Viking leaders, remained in control of

7622-414: The nitric acid attacking the metal to which it is applied, and thus leaving a film of free metallic mercury. After the amalgam is equally spread over the prepared surface of the metal, the mercury is then carefully volatilized with heat just sufficient to do so, as a temperature too high may cause part of the gold to be driven off, or otherwise run together, leaving some of the metal surface bare. When

7725-659: The original or in photographs. Both combine elements from many stylistic origins into a style that is distinctly Insular: La Tène Celtic art, Germanic animal style , and classical and other Mediterranean styles. The Vikings began to raid Ireland from 795, with catastrophic effect for the monasteries in particular. However, although the Vikings established several longphorts , initially fortified encampments for over-wintering, and later towns like Dublin , Wexford , Cork , and Waterford (the first real urban centres in Ireland),

7828-427: The permanence and brightness of gold appealing to designers. Both porcelain and earthenware are commonly decorated with gold, and in the late 1970s it was reported that 5 tonnes of gold were used annually for the decoration of these products. Some wall tiles also have gold decoration. Application techniques include spraying , brushing , banding machines, and direct or indirect screen-printing . After application

7931-498: 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

8034-656: 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 Pictish 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. By shortly after 700, highly elaborate, large brooches in precious metal and gems were being produced. These were clearly expressions of high status for

8137-471: 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;

8240-401: 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

8343-679: The pin, which can dwarf the ring. A heavy necklace often hangs between the two brooches, usually attached to a ring at the bottom of the brooch. Local names for the brooches are said to include melia , melehfa , bzima , kitfiyya , and khellala in Maghrebi Arabic , and tabzimt , tizerzay , and tazersit in Berber languages. As brooches similar in form and function are known from the Bronze Age and later Roman and Visigoth brooches , such fibulae are believed to have been in use in

8446-459: 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

8549-429: 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

8652-531: 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 another ornate and high quality 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

8755-527: The ring itself. The format of the quatrefoil terminals has been compared to the opening folio for the Gospel of Luke in the c. AD 800 Book of Kells . The overall head is strap-like when viewed in cross-section. The tracery on the curves of the ring is made up of interlaced bodies and legs of zoomorphic animals, including an Irish elk . Most of the original pin head is lost, with only its base remaining intact, and also has traces of red enamel. The reverse

8858-407: 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;

8961-466: 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

9064-401: 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

9167-405: 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

9270-499: The second surface of glass and backed with silver, it is known as " Angel gilding ". Fire-gilding or wash-gilding is a process by which an amalgam of gold is applied to metallic surfaces, the mercury being subsequently volatilized , leaving a film of gold or an amalgam containing 13 to 16% mercury. In the preparation of the amalgam, the gold must first be reduced to thin plates or grains, which are heated red-hot, and thrown into previously heated mercury, until it begins to smoke. When

9373-489: The sons of minor kings need wear only silver brooches. "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

9476-420: The surface of the acid. The whole mixture is then poured into a separating funnel with a small aperture, and allowed to rest for some time, when the acid is run off from below and the gold dissolved in ether separated. The ether will be found to have taken up all the gold from the acid, and may be used for gilding iron or steel, for which purpose the metal is polished with fine emery and spirits of wine . The ether

9579-448: The surface was often first coated with gesso . "Gesso" is a substance made of finely ground gypsum or chalk mixed with glue. Once the coating of gesso had been applied, allowed to dry, and smoothed, it was re-wet with a sizing made of rabbit-skin glue and water ("water gilding", which allows the surface to be subsequently burnished to a mirror-like finish) or boiled linseed oil mixed with litharge ("oil gilding", which does not) and

9682-480: 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

9785-422: The vellum pages of illuminated manuscripts , and gilt-edged stock. Chemical gilding embraces those processes in which the gold is at some stage of chemical combination. These include cold gilding, wet gilding, fire gilding and depletion gilding. In cold gilding, the gold is obtained in a state of extremely fine division (i.e. atomized or finely powdered), and applied by mechanical means. Cold gilding on silver

9888-477: The wearer, and use the full repertoire of goldsmith '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

9991-665: Was also used in the ceiling coffers of the Propylaea . Pliny the Elder recorded that the first gilding seen at Rome was after the destruction of Carthage , under the censorship of Lucius Mummius , when the Romans began to gild the ceilings of their temples and palaces, the Capitol being the first place where this process was used. Gilding became a popular luxury within Rome soon after

10094-454: Was found in the mid-18th century at a late 9th- and early 10th-century Viking burial site at Kilmainham , County Dublin , Ireland, alongside swords and other artifacts of Scandinavian origin or influence. After further excavations in the 21st century, the area of Kilmainham- Islandbridge was described by historian Stephen Harrison as "demonstrably the largest burial complex of its type in western Europe, Scandinavia excluded". The find-spot

10197-414: 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

10300-654: Was near the ruins of a late-medieval hospice run by the Saint John of Jerusalem Order of Templars . Its earliest recorded ownership dates to the late 18th century, when it was in the collection of Ralph Ouseley of County Sligo . Today it is held by the archeology branch of the National Museum of Ireland on Kildare Street , Dublin, having been acquired by the Royal Irish Academy before 1853. The mid-19th century copy in Victoria and Albert Museum , London,

10403-414: 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

10506-608: 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

10609-458: 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 copes and other vestments rather than as everyday wear. The Senchas Mór , 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

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