Keshcarrigan Bowl

rdf:langString Keshcarrigan Bowl

rdf:langString The Keshcarrigan Bowl is an Iron Age bronze bowl discovered to the north of Keshcarrigan, County Leitrim, Ireland, in the 19th century. The bowl was found in the waterway between Lough Scur and Lough Marrave ("lake of death"). It was perhaps a ceremonial drinking cup. The bowl would have been a prestigious item in 1st century Ireland, the bird-shaped handle outstandingly designed and skillfully executed. The Keshcarrigan Bowl is in the archaeology branch of the National Museum of Ireland. The Keshcarrigan bowl is considered one of the finest classic cast bronze cups, or drinking vessel. Made of bright-yellow metal, it was discovered c. 1842 – c. 1850 during the building of the "Ulster Canal". The bowl is a fine golden bronze only 14 centimetres (5.5 in) wide and 1 millimetre (0.039 in) in thickness, being cast or beaten into shape before being finished and polished by being spun on a lathe. The neck was finished off against an internal mould. The principal decorative feature of the bowl is its cast bronze zoomorphic handle, following the graceful shape of a bird-beast head of a somewhat nondescript appearance influenced by the flamboyant ornamentation of its time, soldered to the body of the vessel at the base and loosely connected to the vessel neck. The ridge at the front of the bird-head, the 'shield' below, and impression of a beak turning-backward, are all characteristic of the male-Shelduck. In 2018 it was shown on an Irish postage stamp, after featuring in A History of Ireland in 100 Objects.