The Shrine of Saint Lachtin's Arm (known in Irish as Lámh Lachtaín) is an early 10th century Irish
arm-shrine type
reliquary
A reliquary (also referred to as a ''shrine'', by the French term ''châsse'', and historically including ''wikt:phylactery, phylacteries'') is a container for relics. A portable reliquary may be called a ''fereter'', and a chapel in which it i ...
made of wood and metal shaped as an outstretched forearm and clenched fist.
[Moss (2014), p. 291] St. Lachtin's dates to between 1118 and 1121 and is associated with his church in the village of Stuake,
Donoughmore
Donoughmore (spelt ''Donaghmore'' by Ordnance Survey Ireland; Irish: ''Domhnach Mór'') is a civil and Catholic parish in County Cork, Ireland. This rural district lies 25 km west-northwest of Cork city. Donoughmore is part of the Cork Nort ...
,
County Cork
County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns are ...
, but probably originates from
Kilnamartyra
Kilnamartyra ( , meaning ''church of the martyr'' or ''church of the relic'') is a village and civil parish in County Cork, Ireland. It is located around half-way between Killarney and Macroom. The parish is a kilometre from the L3402 local road ...
, also in Cork. It consists of a yew-wood core lined with decorated bronze and silver plates. The wood at the hand is hollowed out to create a reliquary cavity which once held the arm bone of St. Lachtin (b. 526, County Cork), but is now empty.
The circular cap at its base contains a large transparent gemstone and is
inlayed with silver decorated with
filigree
Filigree (also less commonly spelled ''filagree'', and formerly written ''filigrann'' or ''filigrene'') is a form of intricate metalwork used in jewellery and other small forms of metalwork.
In jewellery, it is usually of gold and silver, ma ...
.
The shrine is 39 cm high, 7 cm wide and 7 cm deep.
Because the hand is clenched rather than, as is more usual for arm shrines, open as if in the act of blessing, it may have functioned as
battle standard
A war flag, also known as a military flag, battle flag, or standard, is a variant of a national flag for use by a country's military forces when on land. The nautical equivalent is a naval ensign. Under the strictest sense of the term, few countr ...
or
talisman
A talisman is any object ascribed with religious or magical powers intended to protect, heal, or harm individuals for whom they are made. Talismans are often portable objects carried on someone in a variety of ways, but can also be installed perm ...
to protect or heal combatants. Saint Lachtin's Arm was rediscovered by antiquarians c. 1750 having been in the care of its hereditary keepers the Healy family for around 200 years. It was acquired that year from Donoughmore Church by the art collector
Andrew Fountaine
Andrew Fountaine (7 December 1918 – 14 September 1997) was an activist involved in the British far right. After military service in a number of conflicts Fountaine joined the Conservative Party and was selected as a parliamentary candidate un ...
. Thereafter it passed through various private and public collections, and has been in the collection of the archaeology branch of the
National Museum of Ireland
The National Museum of Ireland ( ga, Ard-Mhúsaem na hÉireann) is Ireland's leading museum institution, with a strong emphasis on national and some international archaeology, Irish history, Irish art, culture, and natural history. It has thre ...
(NMI),
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
, since 1890.
The shrine is described as "one of the finest examples of ecclesiastical metalwork from medieval Ireland".
[Murray (2014), p. 141] It is one of two surviving Irish arm-shrines (although many more would have been produced, including those of
Ruadhán of Lorrha
St. Ruadán mac Fergusa Birn, also known Rowan, Ruadon, Roadan, Ruadhán, Rodon and Rodan, (died 15 April 584) was an Irish Christian abbot who founded the monastery of Lorrha (''Lothra'', County Tipperary, Ireland), near Terryglass. He was kn ...
(d. 584) and
Ciarán of Clonmacnoise
Saint Ciarán of Clonmacnoise (c. 516 – c. 549), supposedly born Ciarán mac an tSaeir ("son of the carpenter"), was one of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland and the first abbot of Clonmacnoise. He is sometimes called Ciarán the Young ...
(d. c. 549)
), the other being the 14th-century Shrine of Saint Patrick's Hand, also empty and also at the NMI.
Description
Although arm shrines of this type were becoming popular across Europe,
[Ó'Floinn (1997), p. 266] Lachtin's is one of the earliest and is decorated in a distinctively Irish style. The fingers are inwardly bent and the hand is tightly clasped in a half-fist, rather than, as usually found in
Insular arm-shrines, open as if raised in
benediction
A benediction (Latin: ''bene'', well + ''dicere'', to speak) is a short invocation for divine help, blessing and guidance, usually at the end of worship service. It can also refer to a specific Christian religious service including the expositio ...
(blessing).
[Moss (2014), p. 293] The art historian
Rachel Moss suggests that the defiant gesture may indicate that the shrine, similar to the
Cathach of St. Columba
The Cathach of St. Columba, known as the Cathach (meaning "the Battler"),O'Neill (2014), p. 12 is a late 6th century Insular psalter. It is the oldest surviving manuscript in Ireland, and the second oldest Latin psalter in the world.
Its cumdac ...
, was used as a
battle standard
A war flag, also known as a military flag, battle flag, or standard, is a variant of a national flag for use by a country's military forces when on land. The nautical equivalent is a naval ensign. Under the strictest sense of the term, few countr ...
or talisman, that is brought to a battlefield to protect or heal combatants, or bring victory against their opponents.
[Moss (2014), p. 292]
The shrine is built from a yew-wood core
[Murray (2014), p. 143] lined with eight large plates bound by eight binding strips and a central
openwork
Openwork or open-work is a term in art history, architecture and related fields for any technique that produces decoration by creating holes, piercings, or gaps that go right through a solid material such as metal, wood, stone, pottery, cloth, l ...
collar.
[Murray (2014), p. 144] The metal plates are made from bronze and silver and decorated with engraved ribboned
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 ...
and foliate designs
[Murray (2014), p. 147] which bear distinctive elements influenced by
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 ...
: the patterns have been described as crafted in the Hiberno-
Ringerike and Hiberno-
Urnes.
Some of the
interlace may have been added after the first phase c. 1120.
[Crawford (1923), p. 90]
The hand and figures are made from a variety of shaped plates and have cast-interlace and silver
filigree
Filigree (also less commonly spelled ''filagree'', and formerly written ''filigrann'' or ''filigrene'') is a form of intricate metalwork used in jewellery and other small forms of metalwork.
In jewellery, it is usually of gold and silver, ma ...
.
The
inlay
Inlay covers a range of techniques in sculpture and the decorative arts for inserting pieces of contrasting, often colored materials into depressions in a base object to form Ornament (art), ornament or pictures that normally are flush with th ...
around the fingernails employs silver ribbons framed with
niello
Niello is a black mixture, usually of sulphur, copper, silver, and lead, used as an inlay on engraved or etched metal, especially silver. It is added as a powder or paste, then fired until it melts or at least softens, and flows or is pushed ...
(a black mixture for inlay), a technique described by
Roger Stalley
Roger Andrew Stalley (born 12 June 1945) is a scholar and teacher in medieval architecture and sculpture. His speciality is Early Gothic and Romanesque architecture and sculpture in England and Western Europe with a particular focus on Irish arch ...
as creating an "attractive black and silver pattern set against a gilded bronze base...
hat is
A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...
..exploited in an ambitious fashion on the shrine of Saint Lachtin's Arm".
[Stalley (1977), p. 188] The plate below the fingers contains
acanthus foliage.
The circular cap at the base is the most lavishly decorated part of the shrine. It contains panels of filigree and
stamped
Stamped may refer to:
* Stamped (application), an iPhone app
* Stamped (song), by The Verve
*'' Stamped from the Beginning'', a book by Ibram X. Kendi
See also
*Stmpd Rcrds
Stmpd Rcrds (stylised in all caps; pronounced "stamped records") is ...
silver ribbons. The central round
boss
Boss may refer to:
Occupations
* Supervisor, often referred to as boss
* Air boss, more formally, air officer, the person in charge of aircraft operations on an aircraft carrier
* Crime boss, the head of a criminal organization
* Fire boss, a ...
is made from
rock crystal
Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical form ...
and lined with filigree similar to that on the border panels.
[Mitchell (1984), p. 139] An 1884 drawing made at the
Science and Art Department
The Science and Art Department was a British government body which functioned from 1853 to 1899, promoting education in art, science, technology and design in Britain and Ireland.
Background
The Science and Art Department was created as a subdivis ...
in London shows that the crystal once held "elaborately decorated metal" that is now lost. The boss was lined by a cruciform arrangement of purple, yellow and blue
enamel dividing strips, some of which are also lost, but were apparent in the 1884 drawing.
Inscriptions
The inscriptions are engraved in niello
and contain prayers for the commissioner and metalworkers.
[Synnott] That the names may have included craftsmen is supported by the fact that the 11th and 12th centuries were a time of renewed interest in reliquaries, leading to high demand for the upper echelon of metal workers, and their names are first recorded in similar etchings.
An inscription on one of the binding strips translates as "A prayer for Maolseachnail O Callaghan,
Ard Ri
High King of Ireland ( ga, Ardrí na hÉireann ) was a royal title in Gaelic Ireland held by those who had, or who are claimed to have had, lordship over all of Ireland. The title was held by historical kings and later sometimes assigned an ...
of the Ua Ealach Mumhain who made this shrine".
[Moriarty, Colm.]
The Shrine of St. Lachtin’s Arm
. ''Irish Archaeology'', 21 January 2015. Retrieved 24 July 2021 Other inscriptions, also on the strips, mention
Tadhg Mac Carthaigh, a
King of Desmond
The following is a list of monarchs of the Kingdom of Desmond. Most were of the MacCarthy Mór ("great MacCarthy"), the senior branch of the MacCarthy dynasty.
12th century MacCarthy
MacCarthy claimants
O'Brien claimants
MacCarthy
13th ce ...
(which covered roughly today's County Cork and most of
County Kerry
County Kerry ( gle, Contae Chiarraí) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and forms part of the province of Munster. It is named after the Ciarraige who lived in part of the present county. The population of the co ...
) from 1118, and who was probably its commissioner, Diarmuid son of Mac Denisc, and Máel Sechnaill Ua Cellachain (d. 1121) and others
whoes names place its origin in Cork.
The identification of Tadhg Mac Carthaigh as commissioner is based on the shrine's similarity to other known works whose creation his family oversaw, including the sarcophagus, high cross and Cormac's Chapel at the
Rock of Cashel
The Rock of Cashel ( ga, Carraig Phádraig ), also known as Cashel of the Kings and St. Patrick's Rock, is a historic site located at Cashel, County Tipperary, Ireland.
History
According to local legends, the Rock of Cashel originated in the ...
,
County Tipperary
County Tipperary ( ga, Contae Thiobraid Árann) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. The county is named after the town of Tipperary, and was established in the early 13th century, shortly after th ...
.
[Moss (2014), pp. 291–292, 475] Unlike other surviving or documented arm-shaped reliquaries not built to hold primary corporeal remains and instead used for ceremonial or symbolic purposes, Saint Lachtin's Arm is known to have once held Lachtin's bones, which would have been enshrined following a disheartenment.
The shrine's dating comes from badly damaged inscriptions but legible that specify completion between 1118 and 1121,
and on estimates of Mac Carthaigh's succession to kingship. Writing in 1923, the art historian Henry Crawford placed it as "before 1127".
The Metropolitan describe their copy as based on an "original dated 1106".
Condition
It is in relatively good condition and does not appear to have been significantly altered or restored. Some of the silver and gold work is lost,
[Murray (2014), p. 145] and it was crudely opened before 1829, when it was cut apart at both ends.
The art historian
Griffin Murray
Griffin Murray is an Irish archaeologist and art historian specialising in medieval Ireland and Insular art–especially metalwork–in the period between 400–1550 AD. His interests include identifying and contextualizing the social role of med ...
says this was "presumably in order to see the contents", and notes that the process led to the loss of "a whole row of glass studs", while some of the decorations on the plate were damaged.
Portions of the inlay are worn, as are the inscriptions, although they are still largely legible.
Provenance
Very little of St. Lachtin is known outside that he was born in Cork and founded monasteries Donoughmore and nearby
Kilnamartyra
Kilnamartyra ( , meaning ''church of the martyr'' or ''church of the relic'') is a village and civil parish in County Cork, Ireland. It is located around half-way between Killarney and Macroom. The parish is a kilometre from the L3402 local road ...
in the 7th century. Writing in 1750, Charles Smith in his book ''The ancient and present state of the county and city of Cork'' said that "the patron saint
f Donoughmorewas named St Lachteen, and some years ago the parish priest kept here a brazen hand as a holy relic, by which the people swore upon all solemn occasions, but the hand was removed by one of the titular
Bishops of Cloyne."
[Murray (2014), p. 142]
The wealthy Healy family were its hereditary keepers before the 18th century, and it is known that it was valued enough that they used it as a deed to their estate, and argued over its ownership during a (underlying land) dispute with the see of Cloyne.
[Moss (2014), p. 292] It was at Donoughmore Church, County Cork, until 1750, when it was acquired by the art collector
Andrew Fountaine
Andrew Fountaine (7 December 1918 – 14 September 1997) was an activist involved in the British far right. After military service in a number of conflicts Fountaine joined the Conservative Party and was selected as a parliamentary candidate un ...
of
Norfolk
Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...
.
It was sold at
Christie's
Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, at Rockefeller Center in New York City and at Alexandra House in Hong Kong. It is ...
in 1884 to the British state-owned Science and Art Department, London, for £452.3.6.
The purchase was led by
Mervyn Wingfield, 7th Viscount Powerscourt
Mervyn Edward Wingfield, 7th Viscount Powerscourt (13 October 1836 – 5 June 1904) was an Irish peer. He became Viscount Powerscourt in 1844 on the death of his father Richard Wingfield, 6th Viscount Powerscourt. Through this Wingfield line he ...
,
who sought to bring it into an Irish national collection, and it thus passed to the
Royal Irish Academy
The Royal Irish Academy (RIA; ga, Acadamh Ríoga na hÉireann), based in Dublin, is an academic body that promotes study in the sciences, humanities and social sciences. It is Ireland's premier List of Irish learned societies, learned socie ...
that year.
It has, in turn, been 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 ...
branch of the
National Museum of Ireland
The National Museum of Ireland ( ga, Ard-Mhúsaem na hÉireann) is Ireland's leading museum institution, with a strong emphasis on national and some international archaeology, Irish history, Irish art, culture, and natural history. It has thre ...
, Dublin, since 1890 (then known as the Dublin Museum of Science and Art).
An early 20th-century 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.
[Shrine of Saint Lachtin's Arm: early 20th century]
. 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 ...
. Retrieved 24 July 2021
References
Citations
Sources
* Crawford, Henry. "A Descriptive List of Irish Shrines and Reliquaries. Part I". ''The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland'', 6th series, volume 13, no. 1, June 1923.
* Lucas, Anthony. ''Treasures of Ireland; Irish pagan & early Christian art''. New York: Viking Press, 1974.
*
Mitchell, George Francis. "The Cap of St Lachtin's Arm". ''The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland'', volume 114, 1984.
* Mitchell, Perette. "The Inscriptions on Pre-Norman Irish Reliquaries". ''Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy: Archaeology, Culture, History, Literature'', volume 96C, no. 1, 1996.
*
Moss, Rachel. ''Medieval c. 400—c. 1600'', "Art and Architecture of Ireland" series. CT: Yale University Press, 2014.
*
Murray, Griffin.
The Arm-shaped Reliquary of St Lachtin: Technique, Style and Significance. In: Hourihane, Colum (ed), ''Irish Art Historical Studies in honour of Peter Harbison'', 2004.
*
Ó Floinn, Raghnall. ''Treasures of the National Museum of Ireland: Irish Antiquities''. Dublin: Gill & Macmillan, 2002
* Ó Floinn, Raghnall. In: Karkov, Catherine; Farrell, Robert; Ryan, Michael (eds), ''The Insular Tradition: A Resource Manual''. New York: State University of New York, 1997.
*
Stalley, Roger. "Irish Art in the Romanesque and Gothic Periods". 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:
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 ...
, 1977.
* Synnott, Chris.
Artefacts from Blarney in the National Museum. Blarney and District Historical Society. Retrieved 25 July 2021
* Westropp, Thomas Johnson. "Fortified Headlands and Castles in Western County Cork. Part I. From Cape Clear to Dunmanus Bay". ''Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy: Archaeology, Culture, History, Literature'', Volume 32 (1914–1916).
External links
Survey of early medieval Irish art National Museum of Ireland
{{Insular art
Christian reliquaries
Insular art
Irish art