Back Брошка з Тары Byelorussian Agulla de pit de Tara Catalan Tara-brochen Danish Broche de Tara Spanish Broche de Tara French Dealg na Teamhrach Irish Broš iz Tare Croatian Bros Tara ID Fibula di Tara Italian Sierspeld van Tara Dutch
| Tara Brooch | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Material | silver, gold, glass, enamel, amber, copper |
| Size | diameter: 8.7 cm (3.4 in), length: 32 cm (13 in) |
| Weight | 224.36 g (7.914 oz)[1] |
| Created | late-7th or early-8th century |
| Discovered | 1850 (reportedly) Bettystown |
| Present location | National Museum of Ireland, Dublin |
| Identification | NMI, R. 4015 |
The Tara Brooch is an Irish Celtic brooch, dated to the late-7th or early-8th century. It is of the pseudo-penannular type (with a fully closed head or hoop),[n 1] and made from bronze, silver and gold. Its head consists of an intricately decorated circular ring, and overall, its front and reverse sides are equally decorated; each holds around 50 inserted cast panels packed with filigree. The brooch was constructed from numerous individually made pieces; all of the borders and its terminals contain multiple panels holding multi-coloured studs, interlace patterns, filigree, and Celtic spirals. The brooch is widely considered the most complex and ornate of its kind and would have been commissioned as a fastener for the cloak of a high-ranking cleric or as ceremonial insignia of high office for a High King of Ireland.
The brooch was hidden on the east coast of Ireland some time during the 11th or 12th century, most likely to protect it from Viking or Norman invaders. It was re-discovered around 1850, but the exact find-spot and circumstances are unknown. Despite its title, it was not found at the Hill of Tara but on or near the beach around Bettystown on the coast of County Meath. The name by which it became known was chosen by its first commercial owner, the Dublin-based jeweler George Waterhouse, as a marketing ploy for selling copies during the height of the 19th century Celtic Revival. For this reason, many art historians describe it with inverted commas as the "Tara" brooch.[3]
Its decoration and ornamentation are so detailed and minute that parts can only be fully seen using magnification, leading to one 19th-century critic writing that it was "more like the work of fairies than of human beings".[4] Art historians see only the contemporary Hunterston Brooch (c. 700 AD) as an equal in craftsmanship and design. The archaeologist Niamh Whitfield called it "the most ornate and intricate piece of medieval jewellery ever found in Ireland",[5] while the NMI describes it as representing "the pinnacle of early medieval Irish metalworkers’ achievement".[6] It was acquired by the Royal Irish Academy in 1868, and transferred to the National Museum of Ireland in 1890 where it remains on permanent display.
- ^ Whitfield 2009, p. 236.
- ^ Whitfield 2001, p. 228.
- ^ Stevick 1998, p. 15.
- ^ Moss 2014, p. 416.
- ^ Whitfield 2001, p. 211.
- ^ NMI 2022.
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