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

cope The cope (known in Latin as ''pluviale'' 'rain coat' or ''cappa'' 'cape') is a liturgical vestment, more precisely a long mantle or cloak, open in front and fastened at the breast with a band or clasp. It may be of any liturgical colour. A c ...

s and other vestments rather than for everyday wear, as its precious metal content would have made it a status symbol for its owner;Moss (2014), p. 410 less expensive Viking-style brooches were typically worn in pairs on women's clothing.Moss (2014), p. 411 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 Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and s ...

in AD 795. It was found in the 18th century during an excavation of a Viking burial place in

Kilmainham Kilmainham (, meaning " St Maighneann's church") is a south inner suburb of Dublin, Ireland, south of the River Liffey and west of the city centre. It is in the city's Dublin 8 postal district. The area was once known as Kilmanum. History In t ...

, on the fringe of the city of

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

in Ireland. Although established as being of Irish origin, its form and decorations seem heavily influenced by both

Viking art Viking art, also known commonly as Norse art, is a term widely accepted for the art of Scandinavian Norsemen and Viking settlements further afield—particularly in the British Isles and Iceland—during the Viking Age of the 8th-11th centuries ...

(in material) and earlier Pictish metalwork (in design and technique). It is held at the

Kildare Street Kildare Street () is a street in Dublin, Ireland. Location Kildare Street is close to the principal shopping area of Grafton Street and Dawson Street, to which it is joined by Molesworth Street. Trinity College lies at the north end of the ...

, Dublin, branch of the National Museum of Ireland, where it is on permanent display in the "Treasury room".

Description

The brooch is classed as penannular as its ring is incomplete (does not fully close). It is made from gold, silver and (mostly red) glass and enamel,Henderson; Henderson (2004), p. 117 and is similar in form and material to the better-known Tara and

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 foo ...

s. The frame is of 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 Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...

, with flat areas reserved for decorative elements. Its top contains 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 (ie 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 arm of the ring itself. The format of the quartrefoil terminals has been compared to the opening folio for the

Gospel of Luke The Gospel of Luke), or simply Luke (which is also its most common form of abbreviation). tells of the origins, birth, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ. Together with the Acts of the Apostles, it makes up a two-vol ...

in the c. AD 800 Book of Kells.De Paor (1977), p. 142 The overall head is strap-like when viewed in cross-section. Kilmainham brooche NM, left hand terminal

The

tracery Tracery is an architectural device by which windows (or screens, panels, and vaults) are divided into sections of various proportions by stone ''bars'' or ''ribs'' of moulding. Most commonly, it refers to the stonework elements that support the ...

on the curves of the ring is made up of

interlaced Interlaced video (also known as interlaced scan) is a technique for doubling the perceived frame rate of a video display without consuming extra bandwidth. The interlaced signal contains two fields of a video frame captured consecutively. This ...

bodies and legs of

zoomorphic The word ''zoomorphism'' derives from the Greek ζωον (''zōon''), meaning "animal", and μορφη (''morphē''), meaning "shape" or "form". In the context of art, zoomorphism could describe art that imagines humans as non-human animals. It c ...

animals, including an

Irish elk The Irish elk (''Megaloceros giganteus''), also called the giant deer or Irish deer, is an extinct species of deer in the genus '' Megaloceros'' and is one of the largest deer that ever lived. Its range extended across Eurasia during the Pleist ...

.Johnson (1893), p. 86 Most of the original pin head is lost with only its base remaining intact, and also has traces of red enamel. The reverse 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",Youngs (1989), p. 150 it contains structural and decorative designs, including its lobed (ie "hanging") terminals, small cusps, and the

cartouche In Egyptian hieroglyphs, a cartouche is an oval with a line at one end tangent to it, indicating that the text enclosed is a royal name. The first examples of the cartouche are associated with pharaohs at the end of the Third Dynasty, but the f ...

on the hoop, are reminiscent of the Pictish-syle, indicating that it may be of

Northumbria la, Regnum Northanhymbrorum , conventional_long_name = Kingdom of Northumbria , common_name = Northumbria , status = State , status_text = Unified Anglian kingdom (before 876)North: Anglian kingdom (af ...

n origin (unlikely), or at least heavily influenced by that style.Henderson; Henderson (2004), p. 116 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.

Dating

The Kilmainham Brooch 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.

Provenance

It was found in the mid-18th century at a late 9th- and early 10th-century

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

burial site at

County Dublin "Action to match our speech" , image_map = Island_of_Ireland_location_map_Dublin.svg , map_alt = map showing County Dublin as a small area of darker green on the east coast within the lighter green background of ...

, Ireland,The Viking Age in Ireland
. National Museum of Ireland. Retrieved 30 October 2021 alongside swords and other artifacts of Scandinavian origin or influence. After further excavations in the 21st century, the area of Kilmainham-

Islandbridge Island Bridge (), formerly Sarah or Sarah's Bridge, is a road bridge spanning the River Liffey, in Dublin, Ireland which joins the South Circular Road to Conyngham Road at the Phoenix Park. Island Bridge and the surrounding area (often known ...

was described by historian Stephen Harrison as "demonstrably the largest burial complex of its type in western Europe, Scandinavia excluded".King, Anthony.
The Vikings beneath modern Dublin
. ''

Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

'', 17 July 2014. Retrieved 30 October 2021 The find spot was near the ruins of a late-medieval hospice run by the Saint John of Jerusalem Order of Templars."Reports from the Commissioners", volume 54, British Parliament, House of Commons, 1853 Its earliest recorded ownership dates to the late 18th century, when it was in the collection of Ralph Ouseley of

County Sligo County Sligo ( , gle, Contae Shligigh) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the Border Region and is part of the province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the an ...

.Ó Floinn; Wallace (2002), p. 185 Today it is held by the archeology branch of the National Museum of Ireland on

, Dublin, having been acquired by the Royal Irish Academy before 1853.

Replicas

The mid-19th century copy in

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

, London, is from George Waterhouse, a jeweller from

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire a ...

, 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").Brooch. 25/07/1849 (designed), ca. 1850 (made)
.

, London. Retrieved 29 October 2021 An early 20th-century bronze and gilt replica is in the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

, New York.Brooch from Kilmainham
.

Artstor Artstor is a nonprofit organization that builds and distributes the Digital Library, an online resource of more than 2.5 million images in the arts, architecture, humanities, and sciences, and Shared Shelf, a Web-based cataloging and image manageme ...

. Retrieved 23 October 2021 Both were produced during the

Celtic Revival The Celtic Revival (also referred to as the Celtic Twilight) is a variety of movements and trends in the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries that see a renewed interest in aspects of Celtic culture. Artists and writers drew on the traditions of Gael ...

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 the brooch were given the "celebrity" title of the "Knight Templar" Brooch to increase saleability as nationalistic

shawl A shawl (from fa, شال ''shāl'',) is a simple item of clothing from Kashmir, loosely worn over the shoulders, upper body and arms, and sometimes also over the head. It is usually a rectangular or square piece of cloth, which is often folde ...

-pins (a naming trend also evident in the titling of the Tara Brooch, which was in reality found from the

Hill of Tara The Hill of Tara ( ga, Teamhair or ) is a hill and ancient ceremonial and burial site near Skryne in County Meath, Ireland. Tradition identifies the hill as the inauguration place and seat of the High Kings of Ireland; it also appears in I ...

, 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 a firm of Dublin jewellers".Briggs (2017), p. 82 The V&A acquired its copy at the 1851 Exhibition.

References

Sources

* Briggs, Stephen. "The Roscrea Brooch Re-Provenanced?". ''Ulster Journal of Archaeology'', volume 74, 2017. * Coffey, George; Armstrong, E.C.R. "Scandinavian Objects Found at Island-Bridge and Kilmainham". ''Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy: Archaeology, Culture, History, Literature'', volume 28, 1910. * De Paor, Liam. "The Christian Triumph: The Golden Age". In:
Treasures of early Irish art, 1500 B.C. to 1500 A.D: From the collections of the National Museum of Ireland, Royal Irish Academy, Trinity College Dublin
'. NY:

, 1977. * Henderson, George; Henderson, Isabel. ''The Art of the Picts: Sculpture and Metalwork in Early Medieval Scotland''. Thames and Hudson, 2004. * Johnson, Edmond.
Description and history of Irish antique art metal work
'. Dublin: Sealy, Bryers and Walker, 1893 * Moss, Rachel. ''Medieval c. 400—c. 1600: Art and Architecture of Ireland''. New Haven (CT): Yale University Press, 2014. * Ó Floinn, Raghnal; Wallace, Patrick (eds). ''Treasures of the National Museum of Ireland: Irish Antiquities''. Dublin: National Museum of Ireland, 2002. * Youngs, Susan (ed). ''The Work of Angels: Masterpieces of Celtic Metalwork: 6th to 9th Centuries''. Austin (TX): University of Texas Press, 1989. {{Insular art Celtic brooches Collection of the National Museum of Ireland Silver-gilt objects