5th Year Art History Homework

Anyone missing on Friday MUST catch up on the following IRON AGE notes from art history class.I will be checking the copies on Wednesday when we are back to school. 

Iron age artifacts in bronze and Gold –

· Many items from this time which were made of iron have not been very well preserved, as over the years gold was considered by dealers to be the only valuable find.

· However, some very fine swords have been found in various parts of Ireland, but mainly in Co. Antrim. 

· Several bronze trumpets were found, but only one now survives.  This is a splendid object with a long large curved stem.  The mouth of the trumpet is decorated in the repousse technique with a curvilinear pattern, this is called the Loughnashade trumpet after where it was found in Co.Antrim.  


The Petrie Crown:

Discovered in County Cork, the Petrie Crown - named after its former owner, the Irish antiquarian George Petrie - along with the Broighter Gold Collar is another masterpiece of early Irish Celtic metalworking from the pagan Iron Age (100 BCE - 200 CE). Part of an elaborate horned head-dress, it was created in the La Tene style of Celtic art (repoussé method), influenced by Etruscan and Greek art forms. It exhibits the repetitive symmetrical design popular with both Hallstatt and La Tene craftsmen.

Description

The Petrie Crown is composed of numerous bronze pieces connected with rivets. A circular bronze band forms the basic core, to whose outer circumference is attached a number of concave roundels or circular discs, decorated with triskeles or spiral designs centred with birds' heads, and beadwork. As well as the discs, there is another set of riveted attachments, namely a series of goblet-shaped bronze pieces, and a single hollow conical-shaped horn (although marks indicate that a second horn was also part of the original assembly). The horn itself appears to have been cut from a bronze sheet before being beaten and rolled into shape. The bird shapes on the cone were originally filled with red enamel (cloisonné technique), as were settings in the bosses on the discs, one of which still has an enamel stud.

Celtic Design work

The curvilinear patterns on the crown derive from a harmony of traditional Celtic La Tene designs, including sun symbols, influenced by Etruscan and Greek motifs. They employ lotus-bud and palmette imagery, including sinuous trumpet forms terminating in lentoid bosses, along with spirals ending in three types of birds heads. The latter are very similar to motifs which appear on Celtic "Dragonesque" brooches found in northern Britain.