Fifth year art students - Please take down the notes below on the Iron Age into your notes copies please (some of this you will have taken down in class as far as the Loughnashade trumpet so continue from where you left off) - Please sketch in the pics amongst the notes as they are seen below & label your sketchs. This has to be be done for Friday mornings art class.
I also want you to do 2013 Q. 1 past exam paper question essay for Friday morning too. I have copied & pasted the Question in for you below:
2013 - H.L
Q.1) The arrival of the Celts in Ireland gave rise to a distinctive style of decoration used in stone carving and metalwork. Answer (a), (b) and (c). (a)
Name and briefly discuss this style.
(b) Name, describe and discuss the object illustrated on the accompanying sheet, referring to form, function, materials, decoration and the techniques used in its production.
and (c)
Name and briefly describe one other example of stone carving or metalwork from this period.
Illustrate your answer
(Image on accompanying sheet is of The Loughnashade trumpet )
MARKING SCHEME 2013 Q.1)
Q1)
A) Name and briefly discuss this distinctive style of decoration used in stone carving and metalwork. - 10
B) Name, description and discussion of object illustrated, referring to form, function, materials, decoration and the techniques used in its production. - 20
C) Name and brief description of one other example of stone carving or metalwork from this period. - 15
D) Sketches. - 5
I will be asking for all of the above Friday morning.
The Iron Age ( 500 BC to 400 AD)
The Iron Age in Ireland spans almost one thousand years from the
end of the Bronze Age to the start of the Early Christian Era during the fifth
century AD. Knowledge of using Iron metalwork gradually spread throughout
Ireland from Europe where Iron was increasingly being used in metalwork. Iron
became the main metal used to make tools and equipment because it is very
strong – much stronger than bronze. At some point during the Iron Age the
Celts invaded Ireland from mainland Europe. The Celts brought to Ireland a
new culture which the native Irish adopted and made their own – celtic
language, customs and Art.
La Tene
The new style of Art which the Celts brought to Ireland is
called La Tene. This is an abstract curvilinear style of decoration. It is
called La Tene – after a site in Switzerland where the earliest curvilinear
style artifacts were found. This style is found over much of Europe and
in Ireland, it lasted for several hundred years until the arrival of
Christianity when the Irish La Tene style merged with christian designs and
symbols.
The Triskel was a very
popular La Tene motif. It is a triple spiral design – a type of “sun wheel”, it
was used to decorate La Tene style objects.
Metalwork
Iron became the metal to make tools such as knives, axes and
functional objects such as cooking pots and stirrups, however, bronze and gold
continued to be used during the Iron Age for their beauty and because these
metals do not rust or decay like Iron.
The Loughnashade Trumpet:
The Loughnashade Trumpet dates from the 1st Century BC. It is
made from sheet bronze and is over six feet in length. It consists of two tubes
of bronze which are joined together in the middle of the trumpet by a bronze
ring and a bronze disc that forms the bell of the horn. The two tubes of
bronze that form the length of the trumpet were made by bending sheet bronze
into two half cylinders which were then joined together with rivets to
form a tube – the edges are sealed from the inside using a strip of bronze
which is fastened along the length using rivets . There are more than six
hundred rivets used in the length of the horn. At the bell of
the Trumpet there is a bronze disc which is decorated in the La Tene style
using the Repoussé technique of hammering the design from behind so it stood
out in the front in relief. The design is composed of long curved lines
which spiral to form high relief bosses ( rounded knobs). A number of “Trumpet
Curves” are incorporated into the design which flows and curves to resemble
plant-life. It is believed that this design is based on the Greek Lotus
pattern.
The trumpet was found in the eighteenth century, buried near the
shore of Lough Shade, Co Armagh, together with a human skull and three other
trumpets, which have since been lost. This lake is overlooked by the Navan Fort
( Eamhain Macha) which was one of the largest Celtic strongholds in Ireland. It
is one of the earliest trumpets found in the world and still works as a musical
instrument.
Loughnashade Trumpet
Trumpet,
Loughnashade, Co. Armagh.
Early Iron Age, first century bc.
Early Iron Age, first century bc.
Found in a former lake on Co Armagh, the Loughnashade trumpet is the only one to survive of a hoard of four found originally. Classical writers have left accounts of the unnerving effect on Roman armies which the continental Celts achieved by blowing their war trumpets before battle and we can assume a similar martial function for the splendid trumpet from Loughnashade. However, it is likely that the trumpet was also used on ceremonial and ritual occasions. It consists of two curved tubes, the joining of which is concealed by a ridged ring. At the flared mouth there is a decorated ring and its ornament is executed in the repousse technique, based on the classical lotus-bud motif. The quadrants are mirror images of each other and the design is composed of long, sinuous tendrils which terminate in spiral bosses in high relief. A number of trumpet curves are incorporated into the design. Both tubes are riveted along their length. One tube, which is clearly a later replacement, is poorly executed, while the other is a masterpiece of the rivet craft, the quality being only matched occasionally on other fine metalwork such as the Petrie Crown.
The Broighter Collar
The Broighter Hoard is probably the greatest find of ancient artifacts in Ireland. It was uncovered in Co Derry in 1896, when land near the shores of Lough Foyle were being ploughed. The “ hoard’ consists of a model boat with oars and mast, a bowl, two chain necklaces, two rod twisted torcs and a hollow collar. All these objects were made in gold, which had become much a more rare and precious metal in Ireland than in the Bronze Age.
The Broighter Boat and Broighter Collar are famous irish prehistoric artworks. The boat is very unusual for Iron Age Art in that it is not abstract- it is a beautiful representation of a prehistoric boat complete with mast and oars.
The collar is one of the finest examples of la Tene metal
craftmanship in Europe. This hollow collar is made from two plates of thin gold
soldered together in tubular form and bent into a circular shape to fit around
a neck. The La Tene style decoration was made using the repousse technique (
punched from behind). This repousse design would have been hammered into the
gold sheets before they were made into a tube. The design consists of trumpet
shaped patterns and lentoid bosses ( a boss is a lump or knob, and lentiod
means its oval or lens shaped and not circular). These are all linked together
with flowing curved lines that make the design resemble a climbing plant complete
with stems, leaves and flowers. On the surface of the collar the sheet metal
surrounding the repoussé work has been incised with arcs. This makes the La
Tene design appear to stand out more from the surface.
There are two terminals at either end of the collar that have a
Mortice and Tenon locking device that firmly clasps the colllar together.
Unfortunately, the plough that uncovered the collar more than a century ago
broke the collar in two.
The Broighter Hoard
including the Broighter Collar and the Broighter Boat
The
Petrie Crown:
The Petrie Crown is a fine example of Celtic Iron Age
metalworking which displays the curvilinear repeated patterning typical of the
La Tene style. It is made of Bronze pieces which are either soldered or riveted
together. It consists of a band, two discs and one horn.
The base is a bronze band which was bent into a circular shape
that fits onto the head. Tiny perforations running the length suggest that
leather or some sort of textile was sewn to the band. A Running pattern of
disc- like shapes has been cut out of the band and is decorated with a flowing
La Tene Pattern.
Two large discs are soldered onto this band and decorated
with La Tene Trumpet Curves, the centre of some of these curves end in a bird
head design. The eye sockets of the birds head would once have contained
enamel. The discs are not flat, but are concave in shape. The designs are lined
or carved in – ie the background of each line is carved away and smoothed so
the lines appear raised. In each disc there is a boss with a mount for a bead –
in one boss the bead is missing and in the other a red enamel bead remains.
The conical horn was cut from sheet bronze, was formed by
bending sheet bronze into a cone shape and joining the edges using rivets –
the edges were riveted to a strip of copper laid the length of the join
inside the cone . Originally there was a second horn that was broken and
lost. The horn is also decorated with cut away La Tene Trumpet curves and
there is a mount where a bead would have been placed. This bead has since fallen
out and become lost.
The Petrie Crown
Stone Carving (Iron Age)
The Iron Age saw the revival of stone carving which had not
occurred in Ireland since the Neolithic Era. The Turoe Stone in Co Galway is
the finest example of La Tene style carved onto stone. The all -over design
consists of flowing leaf and Trumpet shape pattern with spirals and one triskel
( a motif of three radiating trumpet curves ). A step pattern runs along the
base which is believed to be influenced from Greek Key Patterns.
Turoe Stone (Iron age stone carving)
The Castlegrange stone:
The carvings of figures, which are found in Northern
Ireland, date from the late Iron Age. This are the earliest examples that we
see of human figures in Irish Art.They are believed to be of Celtic Gods or
“Deities”. The Boa island figure is 75cm tall.It is located on an Island in Lough Erne
called Boa- after the Celtic deity( Badbha – who helped warriors in battle and
often appeared in the form of a crow). The carved figure has two faces – front
and back and is believed to have been influenced by the Roman Art.god – Janus( who was
two headed). It is believed that the Irish Celts were influenced by Roman and
Christian cultures in Europe who made statues of gods or saints and prayed to
them.
CastleGrange Stone
In the southern half of Ireland there are
several Ogham Stones. These are the earliest examples of Irish language been
written down. These dashed lines represent letters on the Roman Alphabet. The
Ogham Stone here is from Kickeen, in the Glen of Immal in Co Wicklow, and is
unusual because of the heart shape of the stone.
Carved figure from Boa Island, Co.Fermanagh
Oghan Stones
No comments:
Post a Comment