UNIT 9 LATE MEDIEVAL ARCHITECTURE AND ART (c. 1100–1550s)
Decoration
The decoration on the front of the shrine is mainly intact, although a number of quartz stones added in the late Middle Ages disrupt the balance of the design. Panels of animal interlace filigree, which were influenced by the Viking Urnes style, create a cross shape with a circle at the centre and mounted stones at the end of each arm. Snakes and ribbon- bodied animals in a thin, linear style are the main elements of the designs.
Figure 26.24 The Shrine of St Patrick’s Bell showing the beautifully cast silver gilt openwork patterns.
On the handle cover at the top of the shrine is a fine, silver gilt, openwork casting of a pair of birds intertwined with interlace patterns. Animal heads at either side of the cover have been damaged over time.
The side panels are silver gilt openwork castings in a pattern of snake-like creatures in beautifully balanced curves.
The Lismore Crosier Form and Function
Silver gilt openwork panels on the side of the shrine
The Lismore Crosier was found in a walled-up tower of Lismore Castle in 1814. It is a reliquary, made to contain a staff of office associated with an important abbot or bishop. It is a horse-head crosier in the Irish style, made of bronze sheets on a wooden core. An inscription at the joining of the crook with the top knob on the staff asks for a prayer for the bishop who commissioned the object and for the craftsman who made it.
Animal crest
Enamel stud
Animal head
terminal Bird pattern
Human head
Inscription
Figure 26.25 The cast silver gilt bird patterns on the handle cover of the Shrine of St Patrick’s Bell. The animal heads at each side have been damaged over time.
CHAPTER 26 THE HIBERNO-ROMANESQUE PERIOD (c. 1100–1200s)
Figure 26.26 The Lismore Crosier. The crest on the crook and the enamel studs are what remains of the decoration, which would have included gold filigree panels in the framed spaces.
