Robert M Chapple, Archaeologist

< Table of Contents The image of a pious archbishop, brutally slaughtered in his own cathedral still resonates almost 850 years after the event. Certainly, the murder of Thomas Becket caused shockwaves throughout the christian world of its day. For all that, I still feel that the clerics of Canterbury were not shy about exploiting the event for the maximum theological and financial gain. Part of the latter must include this majestic casket. Created in Limoges in the period from 1180 to 1190 and decorated with champlevé enamel work, it is the largest, most elaborate, and probably the earliest of the 45 or so surviving examples. The decoration includes scenes from Becket’s killing, burial, and ascent into heaven. The figures on the back are variously interpreted as either saints or personifications of the four Cardinal Virtues (Prudence, Justice, Fortitude, and Temperance). While the intervening decoration on this side is intricate, it and the form of the shrine itself co...

I recently published a post on the Archaeological Items of Irish origin at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and wanted to follow it up with some posts on some other museums with both Irish material and an online catalogue, not to mention progressive view on the usage of their images. To this end, I’ve been perusing the collections of Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts and they’ve kindly granted me permission to use images of the four pieces they hold of ancient Irish origin. Four artefacts may not sound like much, but each one is a masterpiece that commands attention in its own right. The pieces include a Middle Bronze Age ribbon torc from Innishowen, Co Donegal; two Late Bronze Age penannular armlets; and one Early Medieval shrine. The torc was discovered in 1882 by Rev. Dr. William Chadwick Neligan of Cork. This is, presumably, the same Rev. Mr. Neligan, Rector, Shandon Church, Cork City who sold the silver Rathcormac torc [ here ] in 1885. Nelligan sold the Innishowen torc to the Pi...