Ardagh Hoard

Find

The hoard was uncovered in late September 1868 by two boys, Jim Quin and Paddy Flanagan, while digging in a potato field on the south-western side of a rath called Reerasta near Ardagh, County Limerick. The chalice contained the other items and was covered only by a slab of stone, suggesting the pieces were buried in haste, likely temporarily. Quin later emigrated to Australia and died in Melbourne in 1934; Flanagan remained in Ireland and is buried in the Pauper's Graveyard in Newcastle West. Quin's mother sold the hoard to George Butler, Catholic Bishop of Limerick.

Chalice

The chalice is a large, two-handled beaten silver cup decorated with gold, gilt bronze, brass, lead pewter, and enamel, assembled from 354 separate pieces. Its main body consists of two hemispheres of sheet silver joined by a rivet hidden under a gilt-bronze band. The names of the apostles are incised in a frieze around the bowl, below a girdle with gold wirework panels of animals, birds, and geometric interlace. Techniques employed include hammering, engraving, lost-wax casting, filigree applique, cloisonné, and enamel; even the underside is decorated.

Art historian Lawrence Stone noted the classical restraint in the ornamentation, which contrasts with the lavish spread of the Tara Brooch and later works. The decoration features spiral and interlace patterns with soldered layers of gold thread, and cloisonné enamel bosses of blue and red showing continuity with Anglo-Saxon jewelers' craft. The standard monograph is L.S. Gógan, The Ardagh Chalice.