Summary

Rectangular gilt bronze mount mount with panels of Celtic interlace later converted into a brooch, found in a Viking grave at Carn a Bhorich, Oronsay, Argyll, 700 - 1000 AD

Accession Number

X.FC 183

Other references

Original description

PERSONAL ORNAMENTS, &C. [One of] Two rectangular mounts, 3" long, with panels of Celtic interlace later converted into brooches. Oronsay. PSAS 1906-7, 438-9. Each 70 mm L x 20 mm W. SCRAN Caption Record, 25/04/1997: SHRINE FASTENERS FROM CARN NAN BHARRAICH, ORONSAY, ARGYLL Ref: X.FC 183, 4 INTRODUCTION - These two gilt bronze fasteners were found in a Viking grave at Carn nan Bharraich on Oronsay in Argyll. They were originally hinge plates on an Irish or Scottish shrine which held Christian relics. Both were converted into brooches at a later date. DESCRIPTION - The mounts have interlace decoration surrounding rectangular settings, now empty, but perhaps once filled with enamel or stones. The ends are in the shapes of animals' heads, with settings originally with amber, though only two are preserved. BACKGROUND - Complete and fragmentary portable shrines are one of the most common objects to survive from the early Irish church and its related foundations in western Scotland. They were looted by the Vikings, and the elaborate mounts often adapted to other objects. DETAILS - Date: Between 700 and 1000 Material: Bronze, gold, amber Dimensions: Lengths: 76 mm REFERENCES - Grieg, Sigurd. Viking Antiquities in Scotland (=Viking Antiquities in Great Britain and Ireland, Part II, ed. by Haakon Shetelig). Oslo: H. Aschehoug & Co., 1940, pp 44-5.; Anderson, Joseph. Notice of bronze brooches and personal ornaments from a ship burial of the Viking time in Oronsay, and other bronze ornaments from Colonsay. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 41 (1906-7), pp 438-9.

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)

Carn a Bhorich, Oronsay, Argyll, Scotland, Northern Europe

Acquisition

Acquisition date

1907

Acquisition source (i.e. name of donor)

Right Honourable Lord Strathcona and Mount Royal, G.C.M.G., per W. Garson

Acquisition source role (e.g. donor)

Donor

Image