The Celtic Spirit by Dr Noel Adams — THE ALDEBURGH BOOKSHOP

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This beautifully illustrated catalogue of the Barrow Collection of Celtic metalwork is now available at the Aldeburgh Bookshop. The book accompanies a forthcoming exhibition at Orford Castle of this stunning collection amassed over the past forty years by a Suffolk resident and rarely seen on public view.

The Barrow Collection celebrates the astonishing metalworking skills of the Late Iron Age people known as the Celts. The majority of Celtic objects were cast in copper alloy; a few of exceptional status were made in gold or silver, the latter often gilded. The objects in this catalogue largely consist of dress accessories like torcs, brooches and bracelets as well as the metal fittings that adorned carts, horses and vessels. The earliest reflect the range of grave goods deposited in the furnished burials of the wealthier members of society in Europe and Britain. Although most are ‘orphans’, lacking provenance or context, by comparison with excavated pieces many can be dated in line with archaeological chronologies of the Iron Age.

The visual impact of the finest Celtic metalwork often arises from a pulsing surface movement, superficially asymmetrical, but underpinned by precision, compass-drawn patterns. The earliest Celtic metalwork re-interpreted the vegetal and animal motifs found on Etruscan vessels. From the beginning their castings were enlivened with precious coloured coral, an imported substance thought to have magical properties. Alongside the elegant geometries of design and fantastic beasts, the human head alone, the locus of the spirit and intelligence, was an image that had particular significance in the Celtic visual world. The smiths who made these sophisticated pieces, imbued with the power to work and infuse spirit into iron and bronze, were held in high regard in Celtic societies.

In Late Iron Age Britain, the most famous Celtic tribe in popular imagination were the Iceni based in modern day Norfolk and Suffolk, whose doomed revolt against the Romans in AD 60/61 was led by their warrior queen, Boudicca, wearing a golden torc. Several small fitments in this exhibition are metal detectorist finds in the late 20th century from this region of East Anglia.