The Tara Brooch[422] was found in 1850 by some children whilst playing on the strand near Drogheda, Co. Meath. It was offered by the mother of the children to a dealer in metals in Drogheda, but he refused to purchase it, after which she took it to a watchmaker in the town, who gave her a trifle for it. The watchmaker cleaned it up, and subsequently sold it to Messrs. Waterhouse, of Dame Street, Dublin. The Tara Brooch is now in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy. The body of the brooch is made of an alloy of copper and tin called white bronze, and the decorations with which it is encrusted consist of gold filigree in small recessed panels, niello, enamel, and settings of amber and glass. The ornament includes interlaced-work, spirals, step-patterns, scrollwork, zoömorphs, and anthropomorphs. The spiralwork is of the best kind, such as is only found in MSS. like the Book of Kells. The designs on the back of the brooch appear to be chased or cut into the solid metal of the body, and not composed of plaques fixed on with rivets. Attention should be particularly directed to the rows of birds, each biting the leg of the one in front of it, on the back of the brooch. Similar designs occur in the Lindisfarne Gospels[423] and on a cross-shaft from Aberlady,[424] now at Carlowrie Castle, near Kirkliston, Linlithgowshire, clearly showing Northumbrian influence, as bird-motived ornament of this kind is in no way characteristic of pure Irish work. [422] H. O’Neill’s _Fine Arts of Ancient Ireland_, p. 49. [423] _Publication of the Palæographical Soc._, and G. F. Warner’s _Illuminated Manuscripts in the British Museum_, 3rd series. [424] Allen and Anderson’s _Early Christian Monuments of Scotland_, p. 428. [Illustration: DETAIL OF ORNAMENT ON THE TARA BROOCH IN THE MUSEUM OF THE ROYAL IRISH ACADEMY, DUBLIN] There are several beautiful penannular brooches in the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland, at Edinburgh, most of which are described and illustrated in Dr. J. Anderson’s _Scotland in Early Christian Times_ series. The finest of these is the Hunterston Brooch,[425] which has a Runic inscription upon it and is decorated with interlaced-work, zoömorphs, and spiralwork almost equal to that on the Tara Brooch. The Cadboll Brooch[426] from Rogart, Sutherlandshire, and a brooch from Perth[427] are also very beautiful examples. The best examples of early Irish ornamental leatherwork are the satchel of the Book of Armagh[428] in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin, and the satchel of St. Moedog’s reliquary[429] in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy. The patterns on the former consist of interlaced-work and zoömorphs, and those on the latter of interlaced-work only. There are also specimens of leather shoes in the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy with Celtic ornament upon them.[430] There are very few objects of wood or bone now in existence which exhibit Celtic ornament of the Christian period.