METALWORK
the chalices was a simple vessel of bronze, the other
an elaborate construction of silver decorated with great
brilliance using the full repertoire of filigree, poly-
chrome glass, gilding, die-stamped plates, knitted
silver- and copper-wire mesh, casting, and a limited
series of amber settings. It is matched by the Derrynaflan
Paten found in a hoard composed exclusively of altar
vessels (chalice, paten, liturgical sieve, basin) on a
monastic site in County Tipperary. This great silver
communion plate carries twenty-four filigree panels,
many of them bearing iconographical scenes; brilliant
polychrome glass studs; and superb die-stamped pan-
els. Both the bowl of the Ardagh Chalice and the plate
of the paten were spun on lathes indicating that, in
addition to hand tools, simple machinery was available
to aid the processes of manufacture. The paten carried
an engraved assembly code suggesting strongly that a
literate person—presumably a cleric—was involved in
its manufacture. Both pieces were made in the eighth
century—at a guess in the later part of that century.
The chalice from Derrynaflan is remarkable for its
simpler, graphic filigree style, which reflects common
and simple iconographical motifs of birds and beasts,
including lions, probably associated with the Tree of
Life and related iconographies. It was probably cre-
ated in the ninth century. The chalices belong to a
distinctive insular type, while the paten reflects an old
tradition of large communion plates now missing from
the surviving corpus of ecclesiastical metalwork from
the west. It is difficult to escape the impression that
the great altar vessels were created to reflect the tra-
ditions of the important metropolitan churches of
Rome and Gaul. Their commissioning must have been
a significant act of patronage either by a king or an
important foundation anxious to provide their church
with fitting plate to rival that seen abroad by clergy
and pilgrims.
One of the more complex types of object from the
workshops was the crosier. Often described as crosier-
shrines, it is assumed that the metal casings had been
designed to enshrine the wooden staff of an early saint.
This is in most cases very unlikely, as the constructions
of relatively thin bronze tubing required an armature
internally to give support. Irish crosiers are compara-
tively short—although some may have lost sections in
antiquity and may originally have been somewhat
longer, many are now of walking stick proportions.
The Irish type has a very distinctive crook that ends
in a straight edge (the “drop”) and a series of bulbous
knops that join the tubular segments together. The
tubes are generally plain, but the knops are often a
field for the display of ornament. The majority of
surviving crosiers were either made or restored in
the eleventh and twelfth centuries, but the type is
known to have achieved its traditional form by the
eighth century. A very damaged early example in the
NationalMuseum is associated with Durrow, County
Offaly. Particularly fine examples are the Crosier of
Clonmacnoise—dating to the later eleventh century
and the Lismore Crosier dated by an inscription to the
early twelfth century. A thirteenth- or early-fourteenth-
century grave slab at Kilfenora, County Clare shows
a bishop holding an Irish-style crosier. Crosiers were
certainly valued as relics, and one, the Bacall Íosa
(Staff of Jesus), thought to have been St. Patrick’s, was
kept at Ballyboughal, County Dublin until in the
sixteenth century it was seized and burned by the Lord
Deputy. Irish clergy are almost invariably depicted
with their bell and crosier on early medieval sculp-
ture. A mounted ecclesiastic on the ninth century (?)
Banagher shaft, now in the National Museum, is shown
carrying his crosier over his shoulder. An odd figure
on the little pillar at Killadeas, County Fermanagh
carries both bell and staff.
The tradition of native metalwork production sur-
vived the Viking invasions and continued in a modified
form until the twelfth century. Viking influences were
absorbed—particularly the use of distinctive Scandi-
navian animal styles. Production of fine metalwork in
rural habitations is not wellattested in the later
period—it seems to have shifted mainly to monasteries
and towns. Some of the very finest products of the
early-medieval period were made in later eleventh and
twelfth century in styles that show obvious Viking
influence as well as a return to early inspiration.
Inscriptions on metalwork objects clearly indicate that
kings and other notables, as well as leading clerics,
commissioned works of importance—Domhnall Ua
Lochlainn was chief patron of the Shrine of St.
Patrick’s Bell, Tairrdelbach Ua Conchobair of the
Cross of Cong. Craftsmen, too, are named in the
inscriptions, but this emergence from anonymity was
to be short-lived. The traditional pattern of patronage
seems to have withered away during the later twelfth
century, having been dealt a heavy blow by the Norman
Invasion, and the products of native schools of metal-
work were supplanted by continental imports and by
manufactures of workshops in towns now dominated
by the conquerors.
MICHAEL RYANReferences and Further Reading
Edwards, Nancy. The Archaeology of Early Medieval Ireland.
London, 1990.
Harbison, Peter. The Golden Age of Irish Art The Medieval
Achievement 600—1200. London, 1999.
Henry, Francoise. Irish Art in the Early Christian Period to A.D.
800. London, 1965.
———.Irish Art during the Viking Invasions 800–1020 A.D.
London,1967.