Fig. 101.—Bridle-bit found in a Moss at Birrenswark, Dumfriesshire (6¾ inches in length).
A bridle-bit (Fig. [101]), found in a moss at Birrenswark, in Annandale, before 1785, and now in the National Museum, exhibits the characteristics of this peculiar phase of art in a very striking manner. It is no less peculiar in its design and construction than in the character of its ornamentation. It is a single casting of bronze. The loops of the cheek-rings have been cast within the loops of the centre-piece, an operation implying technical skill and experience of complicated processes of moulding and casting. The design, however, is the most remarkable feature of the object. It is designed as carefully as if it were a piece of jewellery. The rings, though cast in one piece with the loops, are penannular in form, grasping the neck of the loop between their expanded ends. The two rings differ slightly in size, and the loops differ greatly in form. The one is treated as a loop formed of a cylindrical rod bent to the shape of a loop, and carrying the ornamented open-work of its terminal part as between its extended ends. The other loop is treated as a solid form, and in its ornamental termination there is no open work. The two rings are similar, but not identical. The idea of openness suggested by the modelling of the one loop is carried into the construction of the terminal portions as open work, and the idea of solidity is similarly carried out in the other loop. The surface decoration of the terminal portions of the loops is of the same character in the parts of both that are similar, and is partly carried also into the parts of the one which are wanting in the other. It consists of red and yellow enamel champléve, the colours alternating in alternate rows of triangular and oval spaces. A double spiral and trumpet pattern appears in the open work of the one loop. The loops and rings are greatly the worse for wear, and have been strengthened by thin pieces riveted on.
It is certainly a peculiar feature of an art so singularly decorative that it was applied so largely to the ornamentation of objects that were appropriated to the commonest uses. Enamelled horse-trappings of the most finished and beautiful workmanship have frequently been found in England, sometimes associated with the remains of chariots.[[61]] Not only is the use of enamel in the decoration of such objects unknown beyond the area of the British Isles, but the special system of design which accompanies its use is also confined within that area. And it is an interesting fact that there is historical evidence as to the nationality of these remains. The only classical author who mentions the art of enamelling is Philostratus, a Greek sophist in the household of Julia Domna, wife of the Emperor Severus. In a notice of the variegated trappings of the horses in a painting of a boar-hunt he accounts for their peculiar appearance as follows:—“They say that the barbarians who live in the Ocean pour such colours on heated brass, and that they adhere to it, become as hard as stone, and thus preserve the designs that are made in them.” It is matter of inference what people they were who are thus styled “barbarians in the ocean,” but it is matter of fact that horse-trappings of bronze (or brass) decorated with coloured enamels have hitherto been found in the British Islands alone.
But this peculiar style of art was not confined to the decoration of such objects as parts of military equipments or harness of horses. It was largely employed in the decoration of personal ornaments and objects of personal use.
Fig. 102.—Quern Stone of sandstone found at Balmaclellan (14 inches in diameter).
Fig. 103.—Bronze Mirror found at Balmaclellan (8 inches in diameter)
In the parish of Balmaclellan, in Kirkcudbright, a number of bronze articles were found in draining a bog. It is stated that they were found about 3 feet under the surface in four parcels, each wrapped in coarse linen cloth. Close by them the upper stone of a quern was also found. The quern stone (Fig. [102]) is ornamented, but the ornament possesses none of the distinctive features of the decoration of the bronzes. They consisted of a circular mirror with handle, and a number of thin plates of bronze, some being long narrow bands, others curved and cut into various shapes. The mirror (Fig. [103]) is of the form so commonly seen on the sculptured monuments of the Celtic Christian time in Scotland. The circular part is 8 inches in diameter, and the handle 5 inches in projection from the circumference of the circular part.