Enamelled Roman Jewellery II

Enamelled Roman brooches in St Mary’s Museum, Isles of Scilly

The magical name of Nornour came up in discussion at the recent workshop about enamelled Roman objects over at Malton in North Yorkshire. It reminded me that Dan, one of Manchester Museum’s dedicated Visitor Services Assistants, had given me copies of photographs he’d taken on a holiday visit to the Isles of Scilly Museum. By his kind permission I can share photos of the beautiful objects on the Ancient Worlds Blog.

Wheel brooch courtesy of Justine Bayley

The photo below shows the scale of the discoveries of brooches and other objects found on the remote island of Nornour in the Isles of Scilly. They were first revealed after gales exposed stonework and artefacts were revealed. Excavations were held on Nornour between 1962 and 1966 (see Archaeological Journal vol.124). The archaeological work showed a long period of prehistoric occupation but it was the bronze artefacts of Roman date that put Nornour on the map.

Displsy of objects from the site of Nornour, Isles of Scilly Museum

There were a lot of them as you can see from Dan’s amazing photo. They date from the later 1st to the early 3rd century AD. The sheer quantity suggests that this was the site of a shrine where objects were deposited as votive offerings. Another object, a pipe-clay depiction of Venus (below) is very interesting in this respect because, as Sarnia Butcher’s little book on Nornour (Isles of Scilly Museum Publication no.7) says, objects like this were often given as offerings at temples and shrines or placed with burials.

Venus figurine

The nature of the objects seems to point towards some sort of special circumstances in which all the objects were left on Nornour. As the booklet suggests ‘the assemblage is best interpreted as offerings at a shrine from mariners plying between the continental ports and the Bristol Channel’.

Coins, comb fragment and potsherds

My thanks to Dan for sharing his holiday snaps with us.

Roman enamels workshop in Malton, North Yorkshire

About ten days ago I managed to escape the lead-up to the opening of Fragmentary Ancestors and quit the office in order to re-engage with beautiful and fascinating objects in someone else’s collection. In this case it was the Malton Museum collection which sadly lost its home in the centre of the town a few years ago. A number of dedicated volunteers have been keeping the idea of the Malton Museum and its brilliant collections alive in the popular imagination by organizing events featuring objects from the collections. I went to a seminar earlier in the year on Roman glass led by Prof Jenny Price, who is a specialist in this subject.

Today’s seminar was led by Justine Bayley who retired from English Heritage about three years ago. Justine talked to us through a number of fine enamelled pieces from the Roman Malton collection, and mould fragments from Castleford, courtesy of Wakefield Arts, Museums and Heritage.

Justine Bayley at the Malton enamels seminar

The Malton Museum seminars are a great way to get very close to fascinating objects the greater part of two thousand years old for a very modest fee and a great opportunity to learn about them from leading experts in the field. One of the wonderful things about today’s seminar was being able to look at the colourful objects under a binocular microscope, which  brought out the bright colours.

Studying Roman enamels under a binocular microscope

Enamelled Roman belt buckle from Barton Street, Manchester

We show a group of enamelled bronzes on the ‘How do we know?’ table in the Ancient Worlds archaeology displays at Manchester Museum. In order to understand fully how people in antiquity did things sometimes you have to try and repeat the process yourself. This can be very informative because you are learning by doing. Manchester Museum acquired some replica enamelled objects from the British Museum that came from this branch of experimental archaeology. Manchester Museum’s examples were made by H.W.Axtell of the British Museum.

Replica dragonesque brooch

Replica enamel-decorated Roman brooch in Ancient Worlds

Of course with the last two images, the replicas are shown as we might find them today with their patina. The actual appearance, as Justine showed us in one of her publications, would have been far more garish and, frankly, bling-ish! See Justine Bayley’s paper ‘Bling bling & Co: Tout ce qui brille a Morat et marsens n’est pas or’ in Archeoquiz Enquetes Archaeologiques Fibourgeoises (2012), pp 114-5.

Reconstruction of wheel brooch courtesy of Justine Bayley

Enamel was used to decorate a range of small decorative objects including brooches, seal-boxes, buckle plates, button-and-loop fasteners, studs, votive stands and a few larger objects such as vessels. Justine showed us an image of a beautiful inkwell decorated with panels of millefiori enamel.

Enamel decoration like a stick of rock. Image courtesy of Justine Bayley.

Enamel is essentially glass that is fused to the metal and is brightly coloured  and usually opaque. It dates from the 1st into the 2nd centuries AD, after which it ceased to be fashionable. The site of Nornour came up in conversation as a place where lots of enamelled Roman bronzes were found. It reminded me that Dan, one of the Visitor Services Assistants at Manchester Museum, shared some photos he’d taken of a visit to one of the museums in the Scilly Isles.