Three Sides Live | Professor Etienne Rynne Lectures | October 1994 | Part I

Originally posted online on 13 July 2014 at rmchapple.blogspot.com

(http://rmchapple.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/three-sides-live-professor-etienne.html)

Prof. Etienne Rynne at the decorated east window of Annaghdown Cathedral,

Co. Galway, in 1996 ( Chapple Collection)
In this, the third and final lecture, Prof. Rynne tackles the big three of Irish Early Christian
metalwork: The Tara Brooch, The Ardagh Chalice, and the Derrynaflan hoard. All of his
obituaries noted that he accompanied the Ardagh Chalice to the British Museum when it was
disassembled for cleaning and restoration. This gave him remarkable insight into the
manufacture of the piece which, unfortunately, he never got around to publishing. While never

filling the void, I hope that this very rushed presentation can go some way towards an
understanding of its construction. Students of the Prof. will also recognise his oft-repeated
(and terribly misogynistic) anecdote about women wearing their conference name badges
upside-down. I have to say that, since hearing that story, I have always kept an eye out for its
occurrence at conferences. Ive only observed it a few times, and always by men rather than
women. This recording nicely demonstrates the verbal backlash he received (and expected) for
uttering it in public!
Again, Ive included a rough timeline through the lecture, giving the order of the topics he
covered and some of his quips and anecdotes.

Video also available: here

0:18 Tara Brooch: its on chocolate boxes and its on Dancing Girls breasts or it used to be
0:42 Tara Brooch is different from everything else
1:01 Penannular & pseudo penannular
1:28 tied on with woven silver wire
1:50 illuminated manuscripts
2:02 The Tara Brooch about 700 ... 725
2:38 not made of gold! There is only one god brooch in Ireland at this time the Dalriada
Brooch from Lachan, Co. Derry
3:22 you can get the measurements yourselves quite easily, I can never remember them!
3:43 Tara one of the earliest known brooches
3:53 it was cast in the cire perdue method, or the lost wax method
4:44 it took me four lectures ... or five lectures I think for my ordinary students
4:53 Bettystown 1850
5:42 sent to the Great Exhibition in London in 1862 & returned missing some filigree
6:09 how they held these panels in place
6:18 just a little detail to show you the dog that only the wearer can see
7:42 If you dont see the reason for this next time you go to a conference and I know Im
going to have P------- B----- and others giving out now that Im being a male chauvinist pig
and all the rest Im not! Im just telling you a fact women dont as often go to conferences
as men and often they come along with the husband just shows theyre not as used to it
and when you go to conferences and things, youre given your name on a little label and your

name could be P------- B-----, or something and I challenge any of you to go to any
conference and youll see and nine times out of ten it will be women who will have
because theyre not used to it or dont think the same way you put it on upside down
quite often youll see people walking around with their name and its as proud as punch, and
their name is upside down because when they read it, they read it upside down
8:48 [over loud disagreement] I am just stating that [inaudible] [audience member: very
brave] dont blame me, I have no [] Its the same idea
9:24 [problem with slide projector] why is this not working?
9:45 missing panel & how theyre held in place
11:05 gilded
13:00 amber
13:15 decoration on the back
14:13 Niello
15:55 So you can see the Tara Brooch is pretty fine
16:14 lost wax method
16:26 chip carving or kerbschnitt to be more correct
16:42 mercury gilding
17:01 its a marvellous piece, but let us move on from the Tara Brooch to the [indistinct] du
temps, the greatest piece of work metallurgical, artistical, probably ever done in the world
its Benvenuto Cellini or any of them couldnt have done the Ardagh Chalice
17:34 found in hoard in 1868
18:03 probably never used
18:19 its a marvellous piece the proportions are beautiful I think its about seven-and-ahalf inches high [utters list of possible dimensions in quick succession] it doesnt matter!
Its elegant!
18:41 the bowl
19:06 how its held together
19:28 handles
19:45 raised glass studs
20:31 moulds for casting glass studs found at Lagore crannog (with glass stud still in it)
20:58 how they were held together
22:40 the bowl girdle
22:00 description of the panels
24:11 Audience member: is that lettering down at the bottom?
ER: Holy Lord! [audience giggling] theres the bowl obviously, somebody has seen
something! but the number of people that go in [to the National Museum of Ireland] and
look at the Ardagh Chalice and DONT see! thats one thing you learn from archaeology I
keep telling you [] I tell my students if they learn nothing else, they learn to see, not just
to look!
24:44 Ive brought people into the museum and Ive brought them borrowed from the
museum the big magnifying glass and they still couldnt bloody well see!
25:04 inscription on the bowl the names of the twelve apostles minus Judas I think I say
in the hand-outs that St Paul replaced Judas most people say that Ive been looking into
it later and according to the gospels it was Mathias who replaced Judas and Im going to
have to check to see check these bloody names and see whether Paul is included at all
25:48 same sort of letters as the Book of Lindisfarne
26:00 how did they get the girdle on to hold it? note of ER travelling to the British Museum
to see it taken apart
28:04 the foot mount
28:54 silver-topped rivets to hold the handles
29:08 Brass rim
29:25 the bottom
30:56 I think the projector is not one Ive used locally usually
31:44 upper & lower foot girdles
32:07 blue glass studs that the chalice stood on when in use

33:17 those are copper and silver wires probably done like Mr [indistinct] through a hole
[indistinct] in a spool put thread through it and you get a long hollow string and then they
cut it and opened it out
33:36 and these are very interesting and I know you could lick your finger and just wipe
them you could see for a minute, but in the British Museum they actually put oil on them and
they were able to get them so you could see through them ... or translucent just long enough
to take a photograph before it dried out and if you look you can perhaps notice a pattern
behind [indistinct] but here is the silver panel thats behind them all theres a stamped
silver panel
34:27 and Im finishing with Derrynaflan I forgot to bring down I should have brought
down the slide with the chalice of Derrynaflan and the chalice of Ardagh next to one another
because Im going to tell you that [] the chalice of Derrynaflan is a second rate object! I know
if we hadnt got the Ardagh Chalice wed say it was terrific and any other museum or country
in the world would give its eye teeth for it but its a very poor imitation
35:20 Derrynaflan & Ardagh hoards thieves hoard vs. custodians hoard
36:10 Paten
36:36 strainer
36:40 covered by bowl
36:48 paten & stand are the prize pieces
37:00 possibly made by same person/workshop who made the Ardagh Chalice
37:17 strainer
37:30 Ardagh Chalice was take/given & replaced with Derrynaflan Chalice
37:40 Derrynaflan 50 to 60 years later than the Ardagh Chalice
38:00 the strainer
38:14 The tape stopped in the recorder at this point apparently due to an oily residue on the
tape.
ER continues on the strainer: It would make an awful mess! in other words and
furthermore this is bronze this handle is too springy and light if you filled it up with
wine itd go woop like that clearly this was not meant to be used neither were the other
objects they were for presentation on an altar for special occasions feast days like the
Ardagh Chalice like the Book of Kells like all these objects Do socair glr D agus a
onir, mar sin de [to the peaceful glory of God and his honour, and so on] there is the chalice
it looks lovely ... it isnt its [indistinct] its a poor effort! It really Its missing the rim
brass rim which take the bare look off the other one
After a little more explaining how awful the Derrynaflan Chalice is, the tape quality degrades
markedly as the lecture ends

Prof. Etienne Rynne at the north doorway of Annaghdown Cathedral,

Co. Galway, in 1996 ( Chapple Collection)