Scotland in Pagan Times; The Iron AgeAnderson, Joseph
History
Scotland in Pagan Times; The Iron Age
Anderson, Joseph
Scotland -- Antiquities
The same characteristic style of art is seen in the decoration of a
massive collar of cast bronze (Fig. 112), which was found in digging a
well at Stitchell, in Roxburghshire, in 1747, and is now in the National
Museum. Like the armlets found in the Plymouth graves, this collar is
jointed, opening on a hinge in the centre, and fastening in front by a
pin and socket. It is a very massive and heavy ornament, the width of
the opening being 6 inches by 5, and the breadth of the flattened ring
varying from 1¾ inch to ¼ inch. The character of the ornament is simple,
but highly peculiar, and bearing a strong family likeness to the double
escaping and divergent spirals of the later Celtic art. All the patterns
are in relief and cast in the solid, except those on the two panels on
either side of the central opening, which are in _repoussé_ on a thin
plate of bronze fastened to the collar by pins at the four corners.
[Illustration: Fig. 111.—Bronze Spoon-like objects found at Weston and
Llanfair.]
[Illustration: Fig. 112.—Jointed Collar of Bronze found at Stitchell,
Roxburghshire.]
Closely akin to this jointed collar in the idea of its construction and
the form of its ornament is an elegant armlet of thin bronze (Fig. 113),
found in 1826 near Plunton Castle, in the parish of Borgue, in
Kirkcudbright. It is of thin beaten bronze, 1½ inch wide and 2½ inches
in diameter, and, like the collar, it is made to open on a hinge in the
centre, and close by a pin and loops. It is ornamented by three raised
mouldings, beaten up from the back, which pass round it horizontally,
but these are concealed on either side of the hinges by two plates of
thin bronze of quadrangular form, ornamented in _repoussé_ by
trumpet-shaped ornaments connected by peculiar curves, and having studs
placed in the concavities of the curves. These plates are fastened to
the armlet at the four corners by pins, and bordered by a single row of
small studs.
[Illustration: Fig. 113.—Bronze Armlet found in the Parish of Borgue,
Kirkcudbright.]
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