Irish Art-Bronze Age

Background

¨Ancient irish settlers were hunters
¨Knowlegde of working with metal spread across Europe and eventually to Ireland. Early metalworkers found plenty of copper and gold but it wasn’t until they discovered TIN in Cornwall in the south of England that the Bronze age began.
¨Tin made the soft copper stronger forming BRONZE.¨It was at the one of the bronze age that art and craftsmanship as we know it can be said to have begun.

¨By 1500B.C Metalurgy was firmly established in Ireland and Bronze weapons and Gold ornaments were being produced for domestic use and export.

¨Early 200-1500

¨Middle 1500-1200

¨Late 1200-500

¨Ireland had become very wealthy by the year 1000B.C because the country possessed rich deposits of gold and copper. Close trading links were established with many parts of Europe. Sometimes described as Irelands first golden age.

¨ Many spectacular objects and jewellery were found around the country particularly in Irish bogs. 

Overview of The Bronze

¨Metalworking, introduced into Ireland about 4,000 years ago, involves the technologies of prospecting, mining, smelting, manufacturing and decorating. The first metal objects were made from native copper. It would later be mixed with tin imported from Cornwall, to make bronze, a harder metal than pure copper. Magnificent artefacts would also be made from native gold.

The use of Bronge Age Objects

¨Metal came to be used for:

¨useful items such as knives, hammers, axes, razors, needles

¨cauldrons which could be hung over a fire or heated the old way by placing hot stones in them

¨decorative objects such as collars, bracelets, rings, pins, beads, dress fasteners - often made from gold

¨musical instruments

¨military equipment such as daggers, swords, spearheads and shields

Bronze Age Decoration Methods

¨Bronze objects were of high artistic quality.

¨Ornamentation/ decoration was abstract and geometric (lines, triangles, lozenges, dots..)

¨ Repousse- hammering a design on the reverse of the object.

¨Incision- Cutting a design into the front.

¨Twisting – flat strip of gold flattened and twisted (forms a delicate spiral design)

¨ Flanging- hammering and thinning out the edges of an object.

Early Bronze Age - Sun Disc 2000BC approx.

During the Early Bronze Age the principal products were made from sheet gold, and include sundiscs made from a thin sheet of pure gold. A geometric decoration (Zig Zags, concentric circles) was then beaten from the back using what was known as the “repousse” technique.

Middle Bronze Age - The Lunula

The crescent-shaped gold collars called lunula, with expanded horn terminals set at right angles to the plane of the crescent, is the most characteristic gold object of the Irish Early Bronze Age. More than 100 are known from western Europe, of which more than 80 have been found in Ireland. Incised or punched decoration, confined normally to the horns and the internal and external edges, usually consists of fields of simple geometric patterns, Zig Zags , lozenger , triangles , parallel lines.

Mid-Late Bronze Age Torcs and Arm Bands

At about 1200 BCE new gold working techniques were developed and new styles began to appear. Ornaments made from sheet gold continued to be made, such as a pair of armlets and rings used as hair ornaments from Derrinboy, Co. Offaly. However the use of gold bars, either plain or with hammed flanges was an important development. An array of multifaceted neck ornaments, earrings and bracelets were made by twisting thin strips of gold sheet and gold bars.

Torcs date from the mid late Bronze age and are believed to be Scandinavian in origin. They have no surface decorations and are made from long bars or strips of gold that are then twisted. The ends of the torc were worked into knobs which lock together to close around the neck.

Late Bronze Age- 1000B.C – 500 B.CFibula- Clones Co. Monaghan

The gold dress fastener found in Clones, Co. Monaghan, dates from the 8th century BCE. It is pure gold and weighs over 1000 grammes, it has a length of 21.5 centimetres. It functioned as a double button meant to slip through two holes in a garment such as a cloak. The largeness and elaborate decoration on the surface probably meant it was only worn infrequently for ceremonial occasions. 

It is decorated with many small circular shapes engraved into it. Three bands of parallel lines, separated by bands with diagonal hatching, run around the bases of the bow. A hatched chevron design runs around the margins of this band of decoration, both above and below. The exterior surfaces of the terminals are magnificently decorated with small pits surrounded by concentric engraved circles, scattered freehand and occasionally touching one another.

Gleninsheen Gorget

Among the more dramatic gold items of the Late Bronze Age are large gorgets, made mainly from sheet gold, that would have been worn on the breastGlenisheen Collar The Gorget refers to a more elaborate form of the lunula, it is crescentic in shape, worked in gold and attached to two decorated discs at each end. Only eight of these collars are known to exist at this time. The most famous collar of the "gorget" type was found in Glenisheen, Co. Clare in 1932. It dates to the 8th century BCE and is a semi-circular shape with two elaborate disc shapes at either end. It was found in a rock crevice in the Burren area of Co. Clare and it is remarkably well preserved, it is c.31 cm in maximum diameter. There is some amazingly intricate repoussé work on this piece of hammered gold, with rope design and ribbing. Everything is cylindrical and coiled like snakes: typical is the prevalent concentric circles.

Lock Rings 600 B.C

These objects are considered to be for holding hair in place, are some of the finest creations of the Irish goldsmith. They are constructed from four main pieces. Two cones are held togethe rwith a circular binding strip and a central tube designed with small bosses on the inside for gripping the hair. The groves on the surface of the cone are made with wire closely bound together and finely soldered