Eileen Moylan

Jewellery Designer & Goldsmith Cork

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Silver Cone

12.07.2011 by Eileen Moylan // Leave a Comment

Silver Cone 10th Century
Silver Cone 10th Century

I’ve been following the Irish Times series ‘A history of Ireland in 100 Objects‘

Every Saturday Fintan O’ Toole writes about an object, giving an insight into different periods of Irish history.

He adopts three main rules when selecting each item.

An “object” is defined as a single man-made entity, a definition that excludes buildings. The objects are generally presented chronologically. And unless there is an overwhelming reason to the contrary, the objects themselves are accessible to readers in public institutions or spaces’.

 

The series started in February with a Mesolithic fish trap and brought us up to iconic pieces such as the Tara Brooch and Ardagh chalice in Spetember.

While there have been many great objects discussed I chose to write about this silver cone. Firstly because it is so beautifully made and also to give me the opportunity to pick apart the techniques used to make such an intricate piece.

By now you will know that when I look at an item of silver (or any metal really) I analyse the way it was made and dissect each process and technique. I’m hoping it’s something most makers do and not just a weird trait that I’ve developed!. I love trying to figure out how an item was made and seeing how the techniques used affect the aesthetic. Some of my favourite pieces are the ones which still baffle me.

Silver Cone, 10th Century
Silver Cone, 10th Century

This silver cone dates from the 10th century and is made from woven silver thread. O’ Toole describes it beautifully when he says

It sits in the palm of the hand as lightly as a confection of spun sugar

It gives a sense of the delicacy of the piece. The cone is woven from three separate strands of silver each of which is made up of between 15 -18 extremely fine wires. The effect is amazing with hundreds of wires appearing to seamlessly make up this three dimensional form.  Researchers in the National Museum found a residue of some sort of organic material inside the cone which they believe to be a wax. This wax would have acted as a support on which the woven design would have been created.

When you consider the hours it would have taken to create such an item it comes as a surprise to find it was one of 18. The hoard was found in a cave in Dunmore just north of Kilkenny city. A length of silver wire was also found which seems to have been attached to the cones. They also discovered a tiny piece of fine silk which suggests that this was a very ornate dress with a silver wire border and the silver cones acted as tassels or perhaps buttons. The silk was one of the most exciting finds as it was more valuable than all the silver ornaments put together. It was dyed either red or purple (making it even more expensive) and most probably came from the Byzantine empire or the Arab world.

When I read about the hoard and the function of the silver cone it not only made me appreciate fully the beauty of the object but also made me question the wearer. As O’ Toole puts it

Who this woman was is as mysterious as the presence of this extraordinary example of Viking power-dressing in Co Kilkenny. All we know is that someone had a dress worth a king’s ransom, shoved it in a crack in a cave in a moment of panic and never got to come back for it.

 

Categories // My Inspirations Tags // National Museum, National Museum of Ireland, Silver, silversmith, silversmiths techniques

Safe Secrets: The Story of the Coggalbeg Hoard

10.24.2011 by Eileen Moylan // Leave a Comment

Coggalbeg Hoard
Coggalbeg Hoard

Many of you may have read the story of a gold Early Bronze Age collar which was found in a skip after the robbery of a Co. Roscomon pharmacy.

Apparently when Sheehans pharmacy in  Strokestown Co. Roscommon was robbed the burglars  turned out the contents of the safe into a skip after taking the money and valuables of interest to them. What they didn’t realise was that buried in the papers was a priceless gold torc.

Following the robbery the Sheehan family told gardaí that the safe contained three items of gold jewellery. The detectives established that the papers from the safe had been dumped in a skip nearby. Because of the flat, thin nature of these gold pieces (weighing only 78 grams in total) they went unnoticed by the robbers. After trawling through the skip the gardaí found the crescent shaped collar and two small gold discs.

Gold Lunulae
Gold Lunulae

It transpires that these items had been kept in the Sheehan’s safe since 1947.  The hoard was originally found by Hubert Lannon when he was cutting turf in his bog at Coggalbeg, Co. Roscommon. It was discovered when investigating the provenance of the hoard that Mr Lannon had died at age 93  just three weeks before the robbery in March 2009. His family were able to confirm that he had found the gold in his bog and had given it to Mr Sheehan the Strokestown chemist.

Once the gold had been recovered it was sent to the National Museum of Ireland to be cataloged and dated. This hoard is extremely important as it contains the first pair of discs to be found since the nineteenth century.  The find is also important as it represents the first recorded association of a lunula and gold discs. This is very significant for archaeologists as they study the period in which collars and discs would be worn.

Last week the Coggalbeg hoard went on display in the Museum of Country Life in Turlough Park, Castlebar. This amazing find will remain there for all to see until June 2012.

What a strange set of circumstances resulted in this hoard finding  its way into public view. How many other treasures are buried in safes and under beds around the country?!

Categories // My Inspirations Tags // Bronze Age, Early Bronze Age, Gold, Jewellery, Jewelry, Lunulae, National Museum of Ireland

Silversmith Shopkeeper

04.06.2011 by Eileen Moylan // Leave a Comment

Silver Cufflinks with Sketches
Silver Cufflinks with Sketches

This month I am in the process of setting up an online shop. It’s my first time doing something like this online so it’s been a steep learning curve!

As you might have guessed I’ll be stocking my shop with jewellery but I had to make a decision about what style of jewellery I wanted to make and sell online. I had a look at what was out there and saw a gap in the market for good quality Irish silver jewellery. Many of the websites I found were selling poor quality mass produced celtic jewellery that probably never set foot in Ireland! What I wanted to offer was a good quality alternative that would be designed, made and hallmarked in Ireland. I wanted to be able to provide a service whereby someone could order a piece of Irish silver jewellery and know the piece was specifically made for them in Ireland by an Irish silversmith (me!).

Rather than concentrate on the mass produced ‘Irish’ designs I began looking at our rich Irish heritage of art and design and where better to go than the National Museum on Kildare Street, Dublin. I came away with lots of ideas but I just had to figure out on how to capture the beauty of the pieces I had seen.

Once I had chosen some of my favourite artifacts from the National Museum I also researched Irish celtic knot work. With all this material I began designing the range of silver jewellery. I am going to concentrate on mens jewellery for the moment. This is mainly because I love making cufflinks but also because it’s so difficult to find anything really nice for men in the line of jewellery.

Silver Tie Pin with Sketches
Silver Tie Pin with Sketches

I plan on launching the website with a small core range, many of which can be altered to suit the buyer. I designed an ogham collection which has Irish words such as grá (love) engraved in ogham but this ogham could just as easily read any word that the buyer choses. I also have a range of family crest and coat of arms jewellery but done in a contemporary acid etched style.

For me the easy part was designing and making the work the stress started when I had to go about setting up the shop. I had no idea where to start. It’s amazing how much you take for granted when you look at a website and complete a transaction online. Thankfully I found shopify. This is a great website that hosts your online shop for a monthly fee so you don’t have to worry about getting someone to build the website for you. As the operator of the shop I am able to upload photos, add prices and descriptions as well as write a blog. It’s also very easy to manage and edit your products. While there are certain things I would like to do differently shopify is a great start to take the stress out of setting up an online shop.

It’s still a work in progress I have lots of tidying up to do like change the look and colours of the website and add some artwork. I also have lots more products to finish and photograph. As soon as its ready I’ll post a link here.

 

Categories // My Business Tags // artistic process, contemporary Irish silver, contemporary jewellery, Designer, Irish Hallmark, Irish Silver, Jewellery, Jewelry, National Museum of Ireland, Silver, silversmith

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