Summary

Guthrie bell and bell shrine, bearing representations of God and the Crucifixion and an inscription in Latin, from Guthrie Castle, Forfarshire, 12th century

Accession Number

H.KA 21

Other references

Original description

The Guthrie Bell and Bell shrine bearing representations of God the Father, the Crucifixion, the inscription JOHANES ALEXAN/DRI ME FIERI FECIT, bishops robed and mitred, &c are riveted to the stone from Guthrie Castle, Forfarshire. 140 x 112 x 210 mm. Cleaned at Conservation lab 1982. Caption note, February 1993: 12th century.//T. Deniozou note, 2011-02-18, Information taken from Glenn, Virginia, Romanesque & Gothic: Decorative Metalwork and Ivory Carvings in the Museum of Scotland, NMSE Publishing, Edinburgh, 2003: [One of] B1, C42, 41-2 [Angels, Nobles and Unicorns reference] //The core is a plain, very corroded rectangular iron hand bell, the top of which is visible between the later decorative plates. A simple curved handle on the top is covered with plain bronze. The sides and the back are covered with thin sheets of bronze held in place by pins and vertical, reeded strips of brass at the corners. On the back is a small semicircular brass handle, its B-shaped terminals fastened with two large rivets at each end. It is placed horizontally on the right hand side 110mm from the bottom, another alongside it having been broken off.//The front of the shrine is covered with a sheet of silver fastened at the sides and top with pins and a strip of beaded silver, parts of which have been lost. The embossed decoration of this sheet, which is partly obscured by the later figures, consists of a horizontal ridge with elongated fleur-de-lis terminals and trefoil sprigs, two rows of four square panels, each with four diagonal fleur-de-lis and a beaded square, and four vertical panels of foliate scrolls. A vertical panel of crude interlace has been engraved on the silver at a later date. The embossing is arranged around a central plain crucifix to which a cast bronze figure of Christ, partially gilt, is attached by a single nail through each hand and one through his crossed feet.The corpus is very schematised, the hair in concentric swirls forming a flattened cap, the ears circular and protruding, the eyes large and oval, the short beard of formalised curls in a smooth curve on each cheek and the long straight hair falling on to his chest. The arm and leg muscles are naturalistically modelled, the rib cage indicated by simple curved lines. The perizoma falls to below the knees, clinging closely to the body. The whole figure is a rigid T-shape in a symmetrical frontal standing, rather than hanging, pose.//The cast bronze St John from this crucifixion group is now attached to the side of the shrine. Even more abstract than the corpus, it has an oval head slightly tilted to one side with projecting ears, the beard and features indicated by simple lines. The body is a flattened cylinder, the robes in vertical tubular folds on the torso, below a round collar and in horizontal crescent shapes on the lower body. The forearms and hands are in very low relief, the left clasping a book to the figure’s chest, the right crossing the body beneath it. The feet and ankles are in profile, both pointing right. A rivet between the feet attaches the figure to the reliquary. Some traces of gilding remain in the folds of the garments.//A later figure, silver partially gilt, has been placed on the bell shrine above the Crucifixion. He is seated, embossed and roughly engraved in thick metal sheet, modelled in low relief. The reverse, where it is visible above the bell, is plain silver. He wears a crown with low fleurons, a wide collar with punched decoration over an open cloak hatched to represent fur, a deep belt engraved with round motifs and a flowing skirt falling in vertical folds from his knees, textured with cross-hatching. His shoulder-length hair turns outward at the ends and he has a short square beard. The left arm is outstretched, the right forearm missing. Two pins with quatrefoil heads hold the figure in place, one through the stomach, the other between the ankles.//Two further embossed silver figures of bishops or abbots have been added, one each side of the crucifix. Their low mitres have small round bosses either side of a plain vertical strip, high stiff apparels of their amices open at the front and long ‘embroidered’ chasubles (the left-hand figure with crude fleur-de-lis, the right hand with trifids and dashes; both with orphreys in triple splays top and bottom). The albs underneath are also decorated with irregular strips of cross-hatching. The figures have short bobbed hair and a beard is roughly indicated on the left-hand figure. Both raise their right hands in blessing and formerly held a crozier in their left hands. Like the seated king above, their arms are merely thick sheet metal cut and bent to shape and they are attached with similar pins.//A horizontal strip with a poorly formed niello inscription has been attached to the bottom of the front of the shrine, upside down. On the lower edge is an engraved rope twist border, at the left side a crudely engraved leaf motif, at the right a panel of interlace.//On the left-hand side of the reliquary, there is a third figure of a bishop, very similar to the two silver examples, but larger and made of bronze.//Two round silver-gilt ornaments resembling brooches have been added on either side of Christ’s head. Within the alternately lobed and cusped circumference they have plain high settings for six small gems surrounded by a beaded border; in the centre a further larger setting. All the stones are now missing.//Like many Irish bell shrines, for example the Bearnán Cuileain in the British Museum3 and the bell of St Mura in the Wallace Collection,4 this reliquary has been created by applying successive layers of decoration to the early hand bell itself over several centuries.5 The differentiation of these layers by scientific analysis of the metal content is illustrated and fully discussed in the analysis, pages 98-99.//Stylistic comparisons argue that the figures of Christ and St John which combine features of Continental Romanesque art and Irish metalwork, for example St Manchan’s Shrine now in the National Museum of Ireland, place them in the first half of the 12th century.6 The embossed silver plate covering the front has distinctive Iona features in the vertical scrolls which are very close to a gold fillet found on the island [G2, page 91] and in the eight foliated cross heads, a frequent motif of Iona stone carvers.7 Both motifs suggest an early 13th-century date. The two silver bishops and the crowned figure on the front are quite evidently by the same artist as the bronze bishop on the side. The bishops have been convincingly related to Iona effigies of the early 14th century.8//The position of the seated figure above the Crucifixion suggests he is intended for God the Father as he is shown, for example, on numerous English alabaster carvings of the Trinity. As the position of the cross with Christ was already fixed, it could not be placed in front of him in the usual way. It is possible that both his hands were outstretched holding a napkin of souls which would have covered the flat undecorated surfaces on his knees. The iconography with its detailed contemporary costume and covered feet did not, however, quite conform to the norm.//The niello inscription would fit neatly into its present position if it were the right way up, allowing for the flaring vestments on either side. A plausible identification of the donor as John MacIan of Ardnamurchan, whose family had styled themselves Iohannes Alexandri and Alexander Iohannis for generations has been suggested.9 Presumably this represents a refurbishment about 1500, when the silver-gilt ornaments were also probably added. Its re-attachment upside down, the stripping away of a cresting from the top of the shrine and the covering of the handle with plain bronze are likely to be a botched repair after the vicissitudes of the Reformation.//NOTES:1 Glenn 2001, 276.//2 Guthrie 1855, 55.//3 Mahr and Raftery 1976, 57, 157, pl. 83.//4 Ibid, 157, pl. 81.//5 Eeles 1926, 411-17.//6 Ó Floinn 1994, 16.//7 Steer and Bannerman, 1977, 100, 145.//8 Ibid, 29-30.//9 Glenn 2001, 280, n 5, 284; Munro 1986, 284-6.

Associated person/people (e.g. excavator/former collection)

None

Discovery / field collection

Date of discovery

Not recorded

Method (e.g. excavation)

Not recorded

Place (i.e. location of discovery)

Grid reference

Not recorded

Acquisition

Acquisition date

1922

Acquisition source (i.e. name of donor)

Not recorded

Acquisition source role (e.g. donor)

Vendor

Image