Brooch

The Queen’s Brooch designed by Edmond Johnson for West & Son, Dublin. 1849. Gold, pearl.

The Brooch is of Wicklow gold and set with pearl from Lough Eske in Co. Donegal. It is a copy of an ancient Irish Brooch called the Cavan Brooch (7355:W43) and it reflects the fashion for early medieval style jewellery in the mid-19th century. The Cavan Brooch was made around 800 AD and was re-discovered in the early 19th century. The Cavan Brooch is displayed in the Treasury of the National Museum of Ireland, Kildare Street, Dublin.

The brooch was given to Queen Victoria when she visited Trinity College, Dublin in 1849. It was commissioned by the Provost and Senior Fellows of Trinity College. The brooch was made by famous Irish silversmith Edmond Johnson for West & Son.

This object indicates the status of Ireland in the British Empire during the mid-19th Century. Brooches were status symbols in Gaelic culture and this gift expressed both the college’s loyalty to the Crown and Ireland’s long tradition of fine craftsmanship.

Object Number: DT:1902.302

More Information

Crooke, Elizabeth (2000), Politics, Archaeology and the Creation of the National Museum of Ireland: An Expression of National Life. Irish Academic Press.

Fowler, Don D. (1987) ‘Uses of the Past: Archaeology in the Service of the State’. American Antiquity. Vol 52. No. 2. Pp. 229-248.

Whitfield, Niamh. ‘The discovery of the Tara Brooch’. https://discoveryprogramme.ie/podcast/the-discovery-of-the-tara-brooch-by-niamh-whitfield/ [Accessed 8/12/23] https://www.museum.ie/en-IE/Collections-Research/Collection/The-Treasury/Artefact/The-Tara-Brooch/4e7de8cc-9cf5-4352-a20a-34caf1bf4d95 [Accessed 8/12/23]