The archaeology and prehistoric annals of Scotland . of the influence of Scandi-navian art. In the Western Isles especially, where the expatriatedVikings of Norway fixed their head-quarters, and in Man, and tlieOrkney and Shetland Isles, where the first independent Scoto-Nor-wegian kingdoms were established, we may naturally look for manytraces of Scandinavian arts. To this period belongs the very characteristic and beautiful orna-ment, usually designated the shell-shaped brooch, and wliich isequally familiar to Scandinavian and British antiquaries. In Scot-land especially, many beautiful exam
The archaeology and prehistoric annals of Scotland . of the influence of Scandi-navian art. In the Western Isles especially, where the expatriatedVikings of Norway fixed their head-quarters, and in Man, and tlieOrkney and Shetland Isles, where the first independent Scoto-Nor-wegian kingdoms were established, we may naturally look for manytraces of Scandinavian arts. To this period belongs the very characteristic and beautiful orna-ment, usually designated the shell-shaped brooch, and wliich isequally familiar to Scandinavian and British antiquaries. In Scot-land especially, many beautiful examples have been found: severalof them are preserved in the Museum of the Scottish Antiquaries,and from these the following is selected as surpassing in beauty ofdesign and intricacy of ornament, any other example of which I amaware. It consists, as usual, of a convex plate of metal, with anornamental border, surmounted by another convex plate of greaterdepth, highly ornamented with embossed and perforated designs, the SCOTO-ftCANDINAVIAN RELICS. 523. oftcct of whicli appears to liave been furtlicr heightened by the lower])hito behig- o-ihled so as to shew througli the open work. In thisexample tlie gilding still remains tolerably perfect. On the under side are the projectingplates still retaining afragment of the cor-roded iron pin, whereit has turned on ahinge, and at the op-posite end the bronzecatch into which itclasped. The underside of the brooch ap-pears to have beenlined with coarse linen, the texture of which is still clearly definedon the coating of verd antique with which it is now covered. But itspeculiar features consist of an elevated central ornament resemblinga crown, and four intricately chased projections terminating in horsesheads. It was found in September 1786, along with another broochof the same kind, lying beside a skeleton, under a flat stone, verynear the surface, above the ruins of a Pictish house or burgh, inCaithness. It measures nearly four and a hal
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1850, bookidarchaeologyp, bookyear1851
