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Adornments

Exhibition information

Adornments, a selection from the museum’s jewellery box

Here is a selection from over 150 items of adornment and jewellery in the museum.  They showcase the range and diversity of jewellery as well as revealing the different crafts and skills involved in their creation.

The majority of our jewellery was acquired through the generosity of a single donor Mrs Anne Hull Grundy and these examples are all Hull Grundy donations.

Mrs Hull Grundy was one of the most important collectors of jewellery in the 20th century and generously distributed much of it to over 60 UK museums. Between 1975 and ‘83 Armagh County Museum received 96 items from this liberal benefactor.

She was always careful to select objects that complemented the collections in which her treasures would find a home. Consequently, many of her donations to Armagh show the Victorian enthusiasm for imitating medieval Irish jewellery and also demonstrate the popular medium of carved Irish Bog Oak.

List of Works

 

1 Brooch, silver, Lily of the Valley stem with two leaves and five red coral flower heads, with a silver butterfly on the stem. (ARMCM.153.1975)
2 Brooch, hatched bog oak crescent with five pearls surrounded by gilt wire attached to a hatched bog oak pendant with single pearl. Fastened by a horizontal pin. (ARMCM.157.1975)
3 Brooch, circular bog oak, bearing a carved castle in relief. Fastened by a horizontal gilt pin. (ARMCM.162.1975)
4 Brooch, circular domed and hatched bog oak, with a border of shamrock leaves surrounding a centre pattern of Italian mosaic in brown, white, blue, green and red. Fastened at the back by a pin.
5 Gilt cut steel and paste brooch, slightly curved with fretted edge, centre piece a moonstone. Fastened at back by a gilt pin. (169.1975)
6 Pendant, ivory, heart-shaped, carved on one side with a floral design within a rope border. Suspension ring above. (ARMCM.174.1975)
7 Brooch, silver, a griffin and temple on a crescent base. Fastened by a vertical pin on back. (ARMCM.213.1975)
8 Brooch, silver, imitating an Irish penannular type with ornamented bosses, steel pin on back. (ARMCM.219.1975)
9 Snake bracelet, bog oak, made up of 34 segments mounted on a steel coil and carved as a snake with amber and black eyes. (ARMCM.113.1976)
10 Brooch, brass, replica of the Tara Brooch with it’s elaborate Celtic design and a hinged pin. Designed by Dublin jeweller Waterhouse for the Great Exhibition in 1851. (ARMCM.50.1977)