Ossianic gold: an enhanced object biography of a Viking Age or Late Norse finger-ring from the Isle of Jura in the collection of Glasgow Museums
Keywords:
Finger ring
Finger ring
Location(s):
Isle of Jura; Inner Hebrides; Scotland; UK
Isle of Jura; Inner Hebrides; Scotland; UK
Period(s):
Early medieval, Medieval
Early medieval, Medieval
Abstract
A Viking Age or Late Norse gold finger-ring in Glasgow Museums (A.1979.19), previously thought to have been found in the Isle of Skye, is here identified with a ring said to have been found in the Isle of Jura in 1869 (together with another, now lost). This identification is based on an illustration published in 1875 by the ring’s then owner, the Rev Dr P H Waddell (1816–91). Waddell’s use of the ring as a piece of evidence in his attempts to prove the authenticity of James Macpherson’s Ossianic poems is discussed. The ring subsequently passed into the possession of the Austrian Countess Vincent Baillet de Latour (d 1942), who had developed an interest in the archaeology of Skye during her first marriage to Norman Macleod of Macleod (d 1895). Focusing on the ring as a collector’s possession, the paper takes a biographical approach, following its trajectory from antiquarian discovery to museum object.
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References
Callander, J G 1921 ‘Report on the Excavation of Dun Beag, a Broch near Struan, Skye’, Proc Soc Antiq Scot 55: 110–31.
Christie’s 1979 Fine Antiquities: Wednesday, 28 November 1979. Christie’s auction catalogue. London.
Clerk, A 1870 The Poems of Ossian in the Original Gaelic. Edinburgh: Blackwood.
Devine, T M 1994 Clanship to Crofters’ War. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Fitzhugh, W W & Ward, E I (eds) 2000 Vikings: the North Atlantic Saga. Washington: Smithsonian Books.
Gaelic Society of Inverness 1878 ‘Dr Hately Waddell on the Authenticity of Ossian’, Transactions of the Gaelic Society of Inverness 6: 63–87.
Geological Society of London 1897 ‘Obituary of Baron Constantin von Ettingshausen’, Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society 53: lvii.
Gidal, E 2015 Ossianic Unconformities, Bardic Poetry in the Industrial Age. Virginia: The University of Virginia Press.
Gosden, C & Marshall, Y 1999 ‘The cultural biography of objects’, World Archaeology 31(2): 169–78. https://doi.org/10.1080/00438243.1999.9980439.
Graham-Campbell, J 1982 ‘An unpublished gold finger-ring of Viking-age date from the Isle of Skye, and new light on the 1850 Skye hoard’, Proc Soc Antiq Scot 112: 568–70.
Graham-Campbell, J 1983 ‘A Viking Age gold arm-ring from the Sound of Jura’, Proc Soc Antiq Scot 113: 640–2.
Graham-Campbell, J 1995 The Viking-Age Gold and Silver of Scotland (ad 850–1100). Edinburgh: National Museums of Scotland.
Graham-Campbell, J 2011 The Cuerdale Hoard and Related Viking-Age Silver and Gold from Britain and Ireland in the British Museum. London: The British Museum.
Graham-Campbell, J & Batey, C E 1998 Vikings in Scotland: An Archaeological Survey. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Graham-Campbell, J & Sheehan, J 2009 ‘Viking-age gold and silver from Irish crannogs and other watery places’, Journal of Irish Archaeology 18: 77–93.
Joy, J 2009 ‘Reinvigorating object biography: reproducing the drama of object lives’, World Archaeology 41(4): 540–56. https://doi.org/10.1080/00438240903345530.
Lawson, Rev R 1892 Places of Interest about Girvan with Some Glimpses of Carrick History. Paisley: J & R Parlane.
Lyell, C 1871 The Student’s Elements of Geology. New York: Harber & Brothers.
MacArthur, J 1862 The Antiquities of Arran. Glasgow: Thomas Murray & Son.
MacGown, J 1883 ‘Ancient Sepulture in Cumbrae’, Transactions of the Glasgow Archaeological Society 2: 114–20.
MacKie, E W 2007 The Roundhouses, Brochs and Wheelhouses of Atlantic Scotland c. 700 bc–ad 500: architecture and material culture, the Northern and Southern Mainland and the Western Islands, 2 vols. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports, British Series, 444.
Maclean, H 1876 ‘The Ossianic Controversy’, The Coleraine Chronicle 15 July 1876: 6.
MacLeod, F T 1915 ‘Notes on Dun an Iardhard, a Broch near Dunvegan excavated by Countess Vincent Baillet de Latour, Uiginish Lodge, Skye’, Proc Soc Antiq Scot 49: 57–70.
Macleod, R C 1906 The Macleods: a short sketch of their clan, history, folk-lore, tales, and biographical notices of some eminent clansmen. Edinburgh: Clan Macleod Society.
Macnair, P & Mort, F (eds) 1908 History of the Geological Society of Glasgow 1858– 1908. Glasgow: The Geological Society of Glasgow.
Meek, D 2004 ‘The Sublime Gael: The Impact of Macpherson’s Ossian on Literary Creativity and Cultural Perception in Gaelic Scotland’, in Gaskill, H (ed.) The Reception of Ossian in Europe, 40–66. London: Bloomsbury Publishing.
Mowat, R J C 1996 The Logboats of Scotland. Oxford: Oxbow Books.
National Archives and Records of the Science and Art Department and predecessors: Administrative/biographical background. http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C810. Accessed 23 September 2016.
Nicolson, A 1994 (1930) History of Skye, 2nd edn, Maclean, A (ed.). Waternish: The Islands Book Trust.
Paton, J (ed.) 1890 Scottish National Memorials. Glasgow: J MacLehose.
RCAHMS 1928 The Royal Commission on Ancient and Historical Monuments & Constructions of Scotland. Ninth Report with Inventory of Monuments and Constructions in the Outer Hebrides, Skye and the Small Isles. Edinburgh: RCAHMS.
Science and Art Department of the Committee of Council on Education 1876 Catalogue of the Special Loan Collection of Scientific Apparatus at the South Kensington Museum, 2 vols. London.
Waddell, P H 1867 Life and Works of Robert Burns, 2 vols. Glasgow: David Wilson.
Waddell, P H 1868 ‘African Travel Three Hundred Years Ago’, Good Words 1 September 1868: 538–47.
Waddell, P H 1875 Ossian and the Clyde, Fingal in Ireland, Oscar in Iceland or Ossian Historical and Authentic. Glasgow: J MacLehose.
Waddell, P H 1892 Selections from the Published Writings of the Rev. Dr Peter Hately Waddell. Edinburgh: Privately printed.
Wünsch, E A 1865 ‘Discovery of Erect Stems of Fossil Trees in Trappean Ash in Arran’, Geological Magazine 2(16): 474–5
Christie’s 1979 Fine Antiquities: Wednesday, 28 November 1979. Christie’s auction catalogue. London.
Clerk, A 1870 The Poems of Ossian in the Original Gaelic. Edinburgh: Blackwood.
Devine, T M 1994 Clanship to Crofters’ War. Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Fitzhugh, W W & Ward, E I (eds) 2000 Vikings: the North Atlantic Saga. Washington: Smithsonian Books.
Gaelic Society of Inverness 1878 ‘Dr Hately Waddell on the Authenticity of Ossian’, Transactions of the Gaelic Society of Inverness 6: 63–87.
Geological Society of London 1897 ‘Obituary of Baron Constantin von Ettingshausen’, Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society 53: lvii.
Gidal, E 2015 Ossianic Unconformities, Bardic Poetry in the Industrial Age. Virginia: The University of Virginia Press.
Gosden, C & Marshall, Y 1999 ‘The cultural biography of objects’, World Archaeology 31(2): 169–78. https://doi.org/10.1080/00438243.1999.9980439.
Graham-Campbell, J 1982 ‘An unpublished gold finger-ring of Viking-age date from the Isle of Skye, and new light on the 1850 Skye hoard’, Proc Soc Antiq Scot 112: 568–70.
Graham-Campbell, J 1983 ‘A Viking Age gold arm-ring from the Sound of Jura’, Proc Soc Antiq Scot 113: 640–2.
Graham-Campbell, J 1995 The Viking-Age Gold and Silver of Scotland (ad 850–1100). Edinburgh: National Museums of Scotland.
Graham-Campbell, J 2011 The Cuerdale Hoard and Related Viking-Age Silver and Gold from Britain and Ireland in the British Museum. London: The British Museum.
Graham-Campbell, J & Batey, C E 1998 Vikings in Scotland: An Archaeological Survey. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Graham-Campbell, J & Sheehan, J 2009 ‘Viking-age gold and silver from Irish crannogs and other watery places’, Journal of Irish Archaeology 18: 77–93.
Joy, J 2009 ‘Reinvigorating object biography: reproducing the drama of object lives’, World Archaeology 41(4): 540–56. https://doi.org/10.1080/00438240903345530.
Lawson, Rev R 1892 Places of Interest about Girvan with Some Glimpses of Carrick History. Paisley: J & R Parlane.
Lyell, C 1871 The Student’s Elements of Geology. New York: Harber & Brothers.
MacArthur, J 1862 The Antiquities of Arran. Glasgow: Thomas Murray & Son.
MacGown, J 1883 ‘Ancient Sepulture in Cumbrae’, Transactions of the Glasgow Archaeological Society 2: 114–20.
MacKie, E W 2007 The Roundhouses, Brochs and Wheelhouses of Atlantic Scotland c. 700 bc–ad 500: architecture and material culture, the Northern and Southern Mainland and the Western Islands, 2 vols. Oxford: British Archaeological Reports, British Series, 444.
Maclean, H 1876 ‘The Ossianic Controversy’, The Coleraine Chronicle 15 July 1876: 6.
MacLeod, F T 1915 ‘Notes on Dun an Iardhard, a Broch near Dunvegan excavated by Countess Vincent Baillet de Latour, Uiginish Lodge, Skye’, Proc Soc Antiq Scot 49: 57–70.
Macleod, R C 1906 The Macleods: a short sketch of their clan, history, folk-lore, tales, and biographical notices of some eminent clansmen. Edinburgh: Clan Macleod Society.
Macnair, P & Mort, F (eds) 1908 History of the Geological Society of Glasgow 1858– 1908. Glasgow: The Geological Society of Glasgow.
Meek, D 2004 ‘The Sublime Gael: The Impact of Macpherson’s Ossian on Literary Creativity and Cultural Perception in Gaelic Scotland’, in Gaskill, H (ed.) The Reception of Ossian in Europe, 40–66. London: Bloomsbury Publishing.
Mowat, R J C 1996 The Logboats of Scotland. Oxford: Oxbow Books.
National Archives and Records of the Science and Art Department and predecessors: Administrative/biographical background. http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C810. Accessed 23 September 2016.
Nicolson, A 1994 (1930) History of Skye, 2nd edn, Maclean, A (ed.). Waternish: The Islands Book Trust.
Paton, J (ed.) 1890 Scottish National Memorials. Glasgow: J MacLehose.
RCAHMS 1928 The Royal Commission on Ancient and Historical Monuments & Constructions of Scotland. Ninth Report with Inventory of Monuments and Constructions in the Outer Hebrides, Skye and the Small Isles. Edinburgh: RCAHMS.
Science and Art Department of the Committee of Council on Education 1876 Catalogue of the Special Loan Collection of Scientific Apparatus at the South Kensington Museum, 2 vols. London.
Waddell, P H 1867 Life and Works of Robert Burns, 2 vols. Glasgow: David Wilson.
Waddell, P H 1868 ‘African Travel Three Hundred Years Ago’, Good Words 1 September 1868: 538–47.
Waddell, P H 1875 Ossian and the Clyde, Fingal in Ireland, Oscar in Iceland or Ossian Historical and Authentic. Glasgow: J MacLehose.
Waddell, P H 1892 Selections from the Published Writings of the Rev. Dr Peter Hately Waddell. Edinburgh: Privately printed.
Wünsch, E A 1865 ‘Discovery of Erect Stems of Fossil Trees in Trappean Ash in Arran’, Geological Magazine 2(16): 474–5
Published
21-11-2018
How to Cite
Dalglish, K., & Graham-Campbell, J. (2018). Ossianic gold: an enhanced object biography of a Viking Age or Late Norse finger-ring from the Isle of Jura in the collection of Glasgow Museums. Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 147, 285–301. https://doi.org/10.9750/PSAS.147.1230
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