View source for Ardagh Hoard

{{short description|Hoard of metalwork in Ireland}}
{{EngvarB|date=October 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2024}}
{{Infobox artifact
| name              = Ardagh Hoard
| image             = Ardagh Hoard.jpg
| image_caption     = The Ardagh Hoard on display in the [[National Museum of Ireland]] in Dublin, 2010
| material          = [[Copper-alloy]]
| size              = 
| writing           = 
| created           = 8th century
| discovered_place  = [[Ardagh Fort]], [[Ardagh, County Limerick|Ardagh]], Ireland
| discovered_coords = 
| discovered_date   = 1868
| location          = [[National Museum of Ireland]], [[Dublin]]
| id                = 
| registration      = 
}}

The '''Ardagh Hoard''', best known for the Ardagh Chalice, is a [[hoard]] of [[Metalworking|metalwork]] from the 8th and 9th centuries. Found in 1868 by two young local boys, Jim Quin and Paddy Flanagan, it is now on display in the [[National Museum of Ireland]] in [[Dublin]]. It consists of the chalice, a much plainer stemmed cup in [[copper-alloy]], and four [[brooch]]es – three elaborate [[pseudo-penannular]] ones, and one a true [[pennanular brooch]] of the thistle type; this is the latest object in the hoard, and suggests it may have been deposited around 900 AD.<ref>NMI, 185</ref>

The chalice ranks with the [[Book of Kells]] as one of the finest known works of metal [[Insular art]], indeed of [[Celtic art]] in general, and is thought to have been made in the 8th century AD. Elaborate brooches, essentially the same as those worn by important [[Laity|laypeople]], appear to have been worn by monastic clergy to fasten [[vestment]]s of the period.

==Find==
[[File:Calice d'argento, da reerasta, ardagh, contea di limerick, viii secolo 04.jpg|thumb|left|220px|The Ardagh Chalice, centrepiece of the hoard]]
The hoard was found in late September 1868 by two boys, Jim Quin and Paddy Flanagan, digging in a potato field on the south-western side of a ''rath'' ([[Ringfort|ring fort]]) called [[Ardagh Fort|Reerasta]], beside the village of [[Ardagh, County Limerick]], Ireland. Flanagan remained in Ireland and is buried in the Pauper's Graveyard in [[Newcastle West]]. Quin emigrated to Australia, spending his later years in [[Melbourne]]. He is buried in [[Fawkner Crematorium and Memorial Park|Fawkner Memorial Park]] in the city following his death there in 1934.

The chalice held the other items, covered merely by a slab of stone; the pieces must have been interred in a hurry, probably temporarily, as though the owner probably intended to return for them at a later time. The age of the brooches found with the chalice is evidence that it was not buried until the [[Viking]] period. It was sold to George Butler, Catholic [[Bishop of Limerick]], by Quin's mother.

==Chalice==
[[File:Ardagh chalice from below.jpg|thumb|The chalice seen from below]]
The chalice is a large, two-handled beaten silver cup, decorated with gold, gilt bronze, brass, lead pewter and enamel, which has been assembled from 354 separate pieces; this complex construction is typical of early Christian Irish metalwork. The main body of the chalice is formed from two hemispheres of sheet silver joined with a rivet hidden by a [[gilt-bronze]] band and sits at 7 inches high.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Ardagh chalice, Irish Celtic work, height, 7 inches |url=https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e1-0115-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99 |access-date=2025-02-24 |website=NYPL Digital Collections |language=en}}</ref> The width across its rim is {{Convert | 7.5 | in}}.<ref>{{cite book|last1=O'Brien|first1=Máire|author-link1=Máire Mhac an tSaoi|last2=O'Brien|first2=Conor Cruise|author-link2=Conor Cruise O'Brien|date=1999|orig-year=1972|chapter=Christianity to the Coming of the Normans|title=Ireland: A Concise History|edition=3rd ed. (rev.) and reprinted|location=New York, NY|publisher=[[Thames & Hudson|Thames and Hudson]]|page=[https://archive.org/details/concisehistoryof00obri_0/page/34 34]|isbn=0-500-27379-0|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/concisehistoryof00obri_0/page/34}}</ref> The names of the apostles are incised in a frieze around the bowl, below a girdle bearing inset gold wirework panels of animals, birds, and geometric [[interlace (visual arts)|interlace]].<ref>{{cite book |last=De Breffny |first=Brian |date=1983 |title=Ireland: A Cultural Encyclopedia |location=London |publisher=Thames and Hudson |page=35 }}</ref> Techniques used include hammering, engraving, [[lost-wax casting]], [[filigree]] [[applique]], [[cloisonné]] and [[vitreous enamel|enamel]]. Even the underside of the chalice is decorated (photo above).

According to the art historian [[Lawrence Stone]] (writing before the discovery of the [[Derrynaflan Chalice|Derrynaflan Hoard]]): "Here the Irish artist has shown a capacity for classical restraint by a deliberate decision to prevent the ornamentation from spreading so copiously as to blur the proportions... contrasting markedly with the lavish ornamental spread of the almost contemporary [[Tara Brooch]] and the still more elaborate systems of the later period. The bulk of the decoration consists of exquisitely drawn spiral or interlace patterns, given depth by the soldering of two layers of gold thread one on top of the other. At intervals are set cloisonné enamel bosses of blue and red, the complicated manufacture of which shows direct continuity with the Anglo-Saxon jewelers' craft of the preceding century. But apart from the extraordinary perfection of execution of this elaborate decoration, what gives to the Ardagh Chalice its outstanding position in Irish metalwork is the strictness of the relationship between the simple swelling lines of the cup and its base and the arrangement of the glittering studs, bands, and roundels that adorn its surface."<ref>Stone, 18</ref> The standard monograph is L.S. Gógan, ''The Ardagh Chalice''.

The chalice is similar to the only other major early Irish example to survive, the [[Derrynaflan Chalice]], found in the neighboring [[County Tipperary]]. That was found with a [[paten]] and liturgical strainer. At that time the ruling dynasty in Tipperary and most of [[Munster]] were the [[Eóganachta]], while their allies and possible cousins the [[Uí Fidgenti]] ruled in the Limerick area (see Byrne 2001; Begley 1906). Although the early suggestion that the chalice was [[Metal fabrication|fabricated]] at [[Clonmacnoise]] and stolen from there by a Limerick Dane is widely circulated, this is unprovable. A Munster origin is just as likely if not more so given the 1980 discovery of the sister Derrynaflan Hoard. A Clonmacnoise origin is not mentioned at the [[National Museum of Ireland]] website.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20150610194650/http://www.museum.ie/en/list/artefacts.aspx?article=bfcd87b3-c3b1-489c-84f3-5c8bc08cc471 The Ardagh Chalice; Object Number: IA:1874.99]. [[National Museum of Ireland]]</ref>

The chalice was featured on a £1 value [[Definitive postage stamps of Ireland|definitive postage stamp]] issued by [[An Post]] between 1990 and 1995 as part of the series ''Irish Heritage and Treasures'' designed by Michael Craig.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Flannery |first=Maria |date=2018-02-03 |title=Stamp of approval for Ardagh Chalice as artefact gets definitive treatment from An Post |url=https://www.limerickleader.ie/news/home/294849/stamp-of-approval-for-ardagh-chalice-as-artefact-gets-definitive-treatment-from-an-post.html |access-date=2025-02-24 |website=www.limerickleader.ie |language=en}}</ref> Two [[Gaelic Athletic Association]] trophies are modelled on the Chalice: the [[O'Duffy Cup]] and the [[Sam Maguire Cup]].

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
* "NMI": Wallace, Patrick F., O'Floinn, Raghnall eds. ''Treasures of the National Museum of Ireland: Irish Antiquities'' {{ISBN|0-7171-2829-6}}
* Stone, Lawrence. ''Sculpture in Britain: The Middle Ages'', 1955, Penguin Books (now Yale History of Art)

==Further reading==
* Begley, John, ''[https://archive.org/details/dioceselimerick01beglgoog The Diocese of Limerick, Ancient and Medieval]''. Dublin: Browne & Nolan. 1906.
* [[Edel Bhreathnach|Bhreathnach, Edel]], "The cultural and political milieu of the deposition and manufacture of the hoard discovered at Reerasta Rath, Ardagh, Co. Limerick", in Mark Redknap (ed.), ''Pattern and Purpose in Insular Art''. Oxbow Books. 2001.
* [[Francis John Byrne|Byrne, Francis J.]], ''Irish Kings and High-Kings''. Four Courts Press. 2nd edition, 2001.
* Duffy, Seán (ed.), ''Medieval Ireland: An Encyclopedia''. Routledge. 2005.
* Gógan, Liam S., ''The Ardagh Chalice''. Dublin. 1932.

==External links==
{{Commons category|Ardagh Hoard}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20150610194650/http://www.museum.ie/en/list/artefacts.aspx?article=bfcd87b3-c3b1-489c-84f3-5c8bc08cc471 The Ardagh Chalice at the National Museum of Ireland]
* [https://discoveryprogramme.ie/podcast/the-discovery-of-the-ardagh-chalice-by-raghnall-o-floinn/ The Discovery of the Ardagh Chalice], [[Raghnall Ó Floinn]], 2019 podcast
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20150627031522/http://www.limerickdioceseheritage.org/Ardagh/hyArdaghChalice.htm The Ardagh Chalice], Diocese of Limerick Heritage Project
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20160724224028/http://www.gogan.ie/ LS Gogan]
* [http://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p15324coll10/id/113771/rec/1 Treasures of early Irish art, 1500 B.C. to 1500 A.D.], an exhibition catalogue from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on the Ardagh Hoard (cat. no. 33,34,40)

{{Celtic brooches}}
{{Silver hoards}}

[[Category:History of County Limerick]]
[[Category:Silver objects]]
[[Category:Chalices]]
[[Category:Insular art]]
[[Category:Treasure troves of Medieval Europe]]
[[Category:Treasure troves in the Republic of Ireland]]
[[Category:Collection of the National Museum of Ireland]]
[[Category:Celtic brooches]]