The Treasury
Inspired by the great church treasuries of medieval Europe, The Treasury houses outstanding religious and secular metalwork and sculpture dating from the pagan Celtic Iron Age through to the end of the Middle Ages and beyond. The Iron Age gallery displays exceptional bronze and gold metalwork that provides a backdrop to the later developments of the Christian era. The centuries between 500 and 300 BC appear to have been times of cultural stagnation in Ireland, although this was the period during which the continental Hallstatt culture evolved into the mature phase of the European Iron Age known as the La Tène culture. The classic Celtic La Tène art style is named after a site in Switzerland, where it was first recognised during the 19th Century. The style was developed in eastern France and the Rhineland during the fifth Century BC as a result of classical influences on the native peoples of central Europe, who came into contact with the Greeks and Etruscans through the medium of trade. It is a highly stylised curvilinear art based mainly on classical plant motifs.
During the third Century BC imported objects bearing La Tène decoration appeared in Ireland, for example the two gold collars made in the Rhineland, which were deposited in a bog at Ardnaglug, Co. Roscommon. Native production of a range of objects ornamented with a local version of the style followed quickly, and this coincided with the widespread adoption of an ironworking technology, the techniques of which appear to have been fully assimilated by around the time of Christ. By the second Century BC, Celtic objects manufactured in Ireland, such as decorated sword scabbards, had immediate stylistic antecedents on the Continent. By the first Century BC, Celtic craftsmen in Ireland were producing objects of exceptional quality – mainly personal ornaments and weapons – that may have been influenced by stylistic traditions found in Britain.
Christianity was introduced to Ireland mainly from Roman Britain during the fifth Century AD. As a result new object types associated with the Church such as chalices, patens and containers for the enshrinement of books and relics provided a whole range of objects for adornment by Irish craftsmen. In the centuries that followed, Irish monks returned to Britain and to the Continent to reintroduce Christianity into areas over-run by pagan tribes following the collapse of the Roman Empire. Exposure to new influences meant that new styles and technical skills were acquired from a variety of sources such as the Anglo-Saxons and Franks as well as from the late Roman classical world. These styles and skills were added to the repertoire of Irish Celtic designs and techniques.
Centrally placed within The Treasury are some of the best known ecclesiastical treasures of the eighth- and ninth-Century Golden Age, including the Ardagh Chalice, the Derrynaflan Chalice and Paten, and the Moylough Belt Shrine.
The Tully Lough Cross was found close to the edge of a small crannóg (lake dwelling) in Co. Roscommon. Made by Irish craftsmen in the eighth or ninth Century, this outstanding cross consists of decorated gilt bronze plaques and tinned bronze sheets over a wooden core. Also displayed are a small, decorated metal bucket from a crannóg in Clooneenbaun, Co. Roscommon, and two wooden buckets with ornate metal mounts from Clonard, Co. Meath, and Derrymullen, Co. Laois, of a type that appears to have been used on high-status secular sites, as well as on monastic sites.
A collection of mounts decorated in the Ultimate La Tène style from Donore, Co. Meath, are likely to be from a larger tomb-shaped reliquary. Among larger objects that display the art of the monastic stoneworkers are carved slabs from Inishkea North, Co. Mayo, and Carrowntemple, Co. Sligo, a pillar stone from Aglish, Co. Kerry, and a cross shaft from Banagher, Co. Offaly. The Aglish stone is carved with an inscription in Ogham characters, a uniquely Irish script which preserves the earliest form of the Irish language.
The arrival of the Vikings at the end of the eighth Century marked the beginning of a period in which monasteries were attacked and many church treasures looted or destroyed. However, the Vikings were traders as well as raiders, and their commercial activities brought large amounts of silver into Ireland, some of which was buried in the ground for safekeeping. The Vikings also introduced new types of objects and novel art styles, which led to developments in native metalwork and in the decorative arts. The easy availability of silver during the ninth and 10th Centuries led to new fashions in brooch design, with bossed-penannular, thistle and kite-brooches being popular forms.
Viking art styles were widely employed on church metalwork during the 11th and 12th Centuries. Notable examples include the croziers from Clonmacnoise, Co. Offaly and Lismore, Co. Waterford, the shrine of St Lachtin’s Arm and the Shrine of St Patrick’s Bell, constructed around 1,100 under the patronage of Domhnall Ua Lochlainn, King of Ireland, to house the bell of St Patrick, kept at Armagh. The 12th Century was a time of change for the Irish Church, and a number of reforms were implemented whereby a diocesan structure under the primacy of Armagh was confirmed, the power of the abbots was checked, and monasteries were eventually taken over by foreign orders.
Female exhibitionist figures known as 'sheela na gigs' dating to the end of the Middle Ages are often associated with churches founded by the continental orders – of the two examples on display, one is associated with a Dominican friary in Clonmel, Co. Tipperary, and the other with an Augustinian foundation at Seir Kieran, Co. Offaly. The Treasury also includes a rare collection of 16th- and 17th-Century costumes found in bogs; leather shoes along with jackets, hats, a cloak, trousers and a dress, all made of wool. Although the costumes are in a remarkable state of preservation, the original colours of the textiles have been stained brown by the peat.