The Tara Brooch is considered one of the most important extant artifacts of early Christian-era Irish Insular art, and is displayed in the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin.
Created in about 700 AD, the seven-inch long brooch
is composed primarily of silver gilt and is embellished with intricate
abstract decoration (termed "Irish interlace" or
Celtic knotwork) both front
and back. The beads contain images of over 20 wolves' heads and
dragons' faces.
The design, the techniques of workmanship (including filigree
and inlaying) and the gold,
silver, copper, amber and glass
are all of high quality, and exemplify the advanced state of
goldsmithing in Ireland in the seventh century. The brooch is made
in the pseudo-penannular or "Faux" penannular style, meaning
it was not meant to be a brooch to hold clothing, but to be decorative.
Like most brooches of the period, it contains neither Christian nor pagan
religious motifs, and was made for a wealthy patron, almost certainly
male, who wanted a personal expression of status. It is probably
the most spectacular, and one of the best preserved, of several dozen
high-status brooches found in the British Isles, but mostly in
Ireland. Although similar in style, each has a completely individual
design in detail. Precious metals are used, but only semiprecious stones.
Although the
brooch is named after the Hill of Tara,
seat of the mythological High Kings of
Ireland, the Tara Brooch in fact has no known connection to
either the Hill of Tara or the High Kings of Ireland. The brooch was
found in August 1850 on the beach at Bettystown, near
Laytown County Meath. The finder, a peasant woman (or her
two sons), claimed to have found it
in a box buried in the sand, though
many think it was in fact found inland and she claimed it was found
at the beach in order to avoid legal issues with the owner of the land.
It was then sold to an antiques dealer who saw its value and who
renamed it the "Tara Brooch" to make it more appealing.
At the end of the 19th century the revival of Irish
culture drew inspiration from the discovery of treasures such as the
Tara Brooch and the