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Legacy
Celtic Connection
The intricate craftsmanship of Celtic motifs has inspired jewelry designs for centuries.
By Phyllis Schiller
Everything old is new again when it comes to antique and estate jewelry. The appeal of artful designs and beautiful construction reaches out across decades, even centuries, to claim new fans. Celtic jewelry is a case in point, says author and freelance curator Elyse Zorn Karlin, co-director of the Association for the Study of Jewelry and Related Arts (ASJRA). In fact, this concept of past-to-present continuity is the theme of ASJRA’s annual conference, titled “Coming Full Circle: The Re-Use of Styles in Jewelry,” to be held June 10, 2017, in Boston.
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One type of Celtic jewelry, the Celtic brooch, Karlin notes, turned up most often during the revival of Celtic jewelry in both the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. One reason is that during the Celtic period, specifically in medieval Ireland, brooches were used as an indicator of status, particularly for royalty. Men wore them at their shoulders to anchor capes, Roman style, while women might wear them at breast level. This roundish brooch, called a penannular brooch, was crafted in the form of an incomplete or open ring. It featured a long pin stem across the front of the brooch that was inserted through clothing and then locked in place. These brooches featured zoomorphic or animal-like figures and would have beautiful engraving, as well as inlaid stones and enamelwork accents. The brooches were worn on ceremonial occasions and royal ceremonies. Considered valuable pieces, Karlin notes that they were even used as “a sort of bridal dowry.”
A lot of important Celtic finds were made during the nineteenth century, which spurred the revival of Celtic jewelry designs. Three pieces, in particular, helped spearhead the movement, according to Karlin. In 1850, what became known as the Tara Brooch was said to have been found by a woman collecting kindling for her fire, near where she lived near Dublin. “What she found was an incredible penannular brooch of molded bronze, decorated with panels of interwoven filigree birds and beasts and tiny human heads and inlaid with red and blue glass. It’s believed it was a royal brooch and had something to do with the kings of Meath, who ruled in medieval times in Ireland. She took it to a watchmaker in Dublin, who sold it to Waterhouse & Co., an important Dublin jewelry firm of the day. They handmade several copies of it and gave two to Queen Victoria.” Once the queen expressed her liking of the piece, the company began to mass-produce copies. Other companies made them, too, including West & Sons, another old established firm. This type of brooch became so popular that it was still being made through most of the second-half of the nineteenth century. In 1872, the original brooch was given to the Royal Irish Academy, which later transferred it to the National Museum of Ireland. Another find that helped popularize Celtic brooches was the Hunterston Brooch, found in Ayrshire, Scotland, in the 1830s. Now housed at the National Museums Scotland, it is said to date from around 700 A.D. and is considered, says Karlin, a masterpiece of gold and silver work. The third significant find, the Ardagh Chalice, showcased a wide variety of Celtic metalwork. “All of these pieces were reproduced directly or elements of them were incorporated into other kinds of jewelry, which became wildly popular through the end of the nineteenth century,” Karlin says.
The interest in Celtic Revival continued through the beginning of the twentieth century, influencing many of the Arts and Crafts designers in Ireland, Scotland, England and to some extent in the U.S., who incorporated Celtic motifs into their work. These included Mia Cranwill in Ireland, Archibald Knox, chief designer for Liberty & Co., in England and Margaret and Mary Wilson in Scotland. In America, Robert Jarvie, based in Chicago, made silver objects with Celtic detailing and Mildred Watkins, from the Midwest, designed a number of brooches with a stylized version of Celtic interlaced motifs. But it is Alexander Ritchie, says Karlin, who lived on the Isle of Iona in the Scottish Hebrides, who was responsible for turning Celtic jewelry into a cottage industry. “He totally revived Celtic design in jewelry. Tourists would come and buy his designs. These pieces are very collectible.” There was a whole group of artists in Scotland in the 1980s and 1990s and later, notes Karlin, “who were doing work a lot like Alexander Ritchie. While some didn’t replicate the designs exactly, they all used them as an influence.” It seems, Karlin sums up, “that there is a constant revival of Celtic designs, which are deeply ingrained in the British psyche.”Article from the Rapaport Magazine - January 2017. To subscribe click here.
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