IV.—-Metal Bowls of the Late-Celtic and Anglo-Saxon Periods

IV.—-Metal Bowls of the Late-Celtic and Anglo-Saxon Periods. By J. ROMILLY ALLEN, Esq., F.8.A. Read 20th January, 1898. THE object of the following paper is to call attention to the highly decorative character of certain metal bowls belonging to the Iron Age, which have been found in Great Britain and in Norway, chiefly with the view of showing that they supply a connecting link between the flamboyant ornament of the Pagan Celtic metal work and the spiral ornament of the Christian Celtic MSS. and sculptured stones. From time to time discoveries have been made in different localities in this country of small circular enamelled discs, the use of which seems to have been a puzzle to antiquaries, who have generally looked upon them as personal ornaments of some kind. At any rate, they are described in Archaeologia, the Archeeological Journal, and elsewhere as pendants; and the specimens I have seen in museums have been labelled in such a way as to indicate that the curators were unwilling to commit themselves to any definite theory with regard to the use of the discs in question. It has been reserved for a foreign archaeologist, Dr. Ingvald Undset, in a paper entitled " Petites Etudes sur le Dernier Age de Per en Norvege," in the Memoires de la Societe Boyale des Antiquaires du Norda for 1890,b to demonstrate conclusively that such enamelled discs are nothing more nor less than the mountings of metal bowls. I propose now to examine as briefly as possible the circumstances under which bowls, or portions of bowls, of this description have been found, with the view of determining their age and place of manufacture. Before going further, how- a Translated by E. Beauvois from a fuller memoir on the subject in the Aarboger, 2nd ser. iv. (1889), 291-316. *> pp. 33-44 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. INSEAD, on 05 Feb 2018 at 23:33:49, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261340900003842 40 Metal Bowls of the Late-Celtic and Anglo-Saxon Periods. ever, it may be as well to explain that the leading peculiarities by which these bowls may be distinguished from any other kind of vessels are as follows : (1) A concave fluted moulding just below the rim. (2) Hooks for suspension by means of rings, with zoomorphic terminations projecting over the rim; the lower portions of the hooks, which are fixed to the convex sides of the bowl, being in the form of circular discs, or of an oval with the lower end pointed, or of the body of a bird. (3) Champleve enamel decorations, either on the lower part of the hooks or on separate pieces of metal of various shapes attached as mountings to the bowl. (4) A ring on a disc fixed to the bottom of the bowl, which is corrugated to give it additional rigidity, with in some cases strengthening ribs round the sides of the bowl in addition. Kg. 1. Bronze Bowl found at Wilton, Wilts. Now preserved at Wilton House, (i linear.) Wilton, Wiltshire.*—This example is taken first because it illustrates very clearly the hooks with zoomorphic terminations and the rings passed through them for suspension. It was dug up about the year 1860, in the course of drainage works, between the Abbey and Kingsbury Square, and is now preserved at Wilton House. It is here exhibited by the kindness of the Earl of Pembroke. The bowl is of a bright yellow alloy, and is lOf inches in diameter and 4j inches high (fig. 1). It appears to have had a circular mounting, 2 inches in diameter, " The Wilton bowl has been figured and described in Messrs. Nightingale and Goddard's Church Plate of Wilts, 27. Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. INSEAD, on 05 Feb 2018 at 23:33:49, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261340900003842 Metal Bowls of the Late-Celtic and Anglo-Saxon Periods. 41 soldered to the centre inside on a convexity 4 inches in diameter in the bottom of the bowl. There are four hooks and rings for suspension. The upper parts of the hooks, which project over the brim, terminate in beasts' heads, and the lower parts are circular with a pierced ornament in the shape of a cross. There was a Benedictine nunnery at Wiltona in pre-Conquest times, where St. Edith lived and died, and it has been suggested that the bowl was an Anglo-Saxon gabata for suspending a lamp in church. Kg. 2. Bronze Bowl found at Lullingstone, Kent. (J linear.) Lulling stone, Kent.h—The next example, now in the possession of Sir William Hart Dyke, bart., Lullingstone Park, near Darenth, in Kent, is chosen because it exhibits the enamelled metal mountings in great perfection, though unfortunately the hooks with zoomorphic terminations have been broken off (fig. 2). This interesting relic was found in 1860 by labourers whilst digging for brick earth at a spot to the north of Lullingstone, near the railway. It is of reddish a Tounded first as an oratory by Wulstan, Earl of the Wilsaetas, in 800, and afterwards as a priory of Benedictine sisters by King Alfred in 830. Etheltmrga, the widow of Earl Wulstan, was the first prioress. The so-called see of Wilton was really that of Ramsbury, and was founded in 909, Ethelstan being the first bishop. The lands of Wilton were given to the Herbert family by Henry VIIT. at the dissolution of the monasteries. b The Lullingstone bowl has been described and figured in Archceologia Cantiana, iii. 44, and pi. 1, and some of the ornaments are given in the late Professor J. O. Westwood's Miniatures of Irish and Anglo-Saxon MS8. pi. 53. VOL. LV1. 6 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. INSEAD, on 05 Feb 2018 at 23:33:49, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261340900003842 42 Metal Bowls of the Late-Celtic and Anglo-Saxon Periods. yellow bronze, 10 inches in diameter and 4f inches deep, with applied ornaments consisting of thin plates of bronze, tinned or silvered, in the forms of stags and birds. The attachments of the hooks (four in number) are circular, with wings on each side like the arms of a cross with expanded ends, and narrow bands going under the bottom of the bowl, which is strengthened by a circular _.„„...„„ , ,, T ... ring and a hollow 3 inches in diameter under- Pig. 3. Detail of Ornament on the Lullingstone & Bowl, (i linear.) neath the bottom of the bowl. In the middle of this hollow is a cross with expanded ends, of early Christian Saxon type like that found at Lakenheath, Suffolk, and now in the British Museum, which has a gold coin of Heraclius (A.D. 610-641) in the centre. In each of the four quadrants of the exterior of the bowl, between the ribs and discs, the same designs are repeated, consisting of a pair of birds, a bird holding a fish in its claws (as in the Book of Armagh and on the "Drosten" stone at St. Vigean's, Forfarshire), and a pair of stags. The cross-arms, if we may call them so, on each side of the circular disc attachments of the handles are ornamented with interlaced work, and the ring at the bottom of the bowl on the outside with a four-cord plait. This bowl, both as regards its form and decoration, exhibits a curious admixture of the Saxon and Celtic styles of art, although the design is on the whole more Saxon than Celtic. The ornament appears to be Christian, and probably belongs to the first half of the seventh century. Three of the circular discs are ornamented with spiral work, and the fourth with a pattern composed of three beasts arranged symmetrically swastika fashion. Unfortunately in the majority of cases the bowls have gone to decay, or been destroyed, overlooked, or lost by careless explorers, and the enamelled mountings only have been preserved. The method of constructing the bowls of very thin sheet metal with stiffening plates and ribs attached to the exterior is, as we shall show presently, the principal reason why the less destructible parts have survived whilst the rest has disappeared. The following instances of the discovery of enamelled bowl mountings have been recorded in the proceedings of archaeological societies or have otherwise been made known. Middleton Moor, Derbyshire.—In Archaeologia," the Rev. Mr. Pegge describes the opening of a tumulus on a part of Middleton Moor, called Garret Piece, 1^ miles south of Arbor Low, in which he found an uncremated body lying east and west on the surface of the ground. Near the point of the shoulder of the skeleton was a ix. 189. Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. INSEAD, on 05 Feb 2018 at 23:33:49, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261340900003842 Metal Bowls of the Late-Celtic and Anglo-Saxon Periods. 43 an enamelled disc 2J inches in diameter, with spiral ornament upon it. The " piece of bronze with a fillet round it," mentioned by Mr. Pegge, was in all probability a fragment of the bowl, and what he calls a " portion of a buckle," which has spiral ornament upon it, was no doubt another of the mountings.

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