A small number of surviving objects stand out as the masterpieces of the La Tène tradition, works of such outstanding quality that they have come to define the very idea of Celtic art in the popular imagination. The Battersea shield, the Gundestrup cauldron, the Snettisham Great Torc, the Waldalgesheim flagon, the Broighter Gold, and the great sword scabbards of the middle La Tène period together form a corpus of works that any student of the Hallstatt and La Tène art styles must know. These are the touchstones of the tradition of Celtic metalwork and jewelry and central to the broader Celtic art and craftsmanship tradition, and they are the principal sources for our knowledge of the Celtic knotwork and symbolism and the Celtic stone carving and high crosses of the same period.
The Battersea Shield
The Battersea shield, found in 1857 in the River Thames at Battersea, London, and now in the British Museum, spectacular survivals of the insular La Tène tradition. The shield is of bronze, with a wooden core that has long since decayed, and it is decorated with three concentric circles of curvilinear La Tène ornament, the outermost circle being a running spiral pattern, the middle circle a series of stylised lotus and palmette motifs, and the innermost circle a running spiral ending in trumpet shapes at the centre of the shield.
The Battersea shield is a masterpiece of design and execution, and the precision of the engraving, the rhythm of the curvilinear ornament, and the sense of organic movement in the design have made it one of the most admired of all Celtic objects. The shield dates from about the third or second century BCE, and it is one of a small group of similarly decorated Late Iron Age shields found in the British Isles, including the Witham shield in the British Museum and the Wandsworth shield boss, also from the Thames.
The Gundestrup Cauldron
The Gundestrup cauldron, found in 1891 in a peat bog near Gundestrup in Himmerland, Denmark, is the largest and most elaborate piece of Celtic silverwork known, and one of the most spectacular religious objects of the European Iron Age. The cauldron, which has been dated to the first or second century BCE, is made of thirteen separate silver plates, both worked in high relief and plain, and it is decorated with images of Celtic gods, warriors, sacrificial scenes, and animals that give an unparalleled insight into the iconography of late Iron Age Celtic religion.
The cauldron is a work of extraordinary technical and artistic achievement, and the repoussé work of the silver plates is of a quality that has rarely been matched in European metalwork. The iconography of the cauldron is complex and still debated, but the main figures can be identified with some confidence, including a figure that has been interpreted as Cernunnos, the horned god, a figure with a wheel that may be a sun god, a row of warriors on horseback, a sacrificial scene in which a figure is being lowered into a cauldron, and a number of animal and plant motifs. The Gundestrup cauldron is a key piece of evidence for Celtic religion and for the La Tène artistic tradition as a whole, and it remains one of the most studied objects of European prehistory.
The Snettisham Great Torc
The Snettisham Great Torc, found in 1950 in a field at Snettisham in Norfolk, England, is a masterpiece of late Iron Age goldwork and one of the most impressive pieces of insular La Tène goldsmithing. The torc is made of electrum, a natural gold-silver alloy, and it weighs more than a kilogram, with a length of about twenty centimetres and a diameter of about twenty-three centimetres. The torc is decorated with tightly packed abstract designs in the curvilinear La Tène vocabulary, with a sense of density and richness that has been compared to the finest contemporary Greek and Etruscan work.
The Snettisham Great Torc was found in the course of metal-detecting, and it has been studied as intensive study and conservation since its acquisition by the British Museum. The torc is one of a group of similar gold and electrum torcs found in the Snettisham area, including the Sedgeford torc and the Ringlemere Cup, and the Snettisham hoard as a whole is one of the richest sources of insular La Tène goldwork known.
The Waldalgesheim Flagon
The Waldalgesheim flagon, found in 1880 in a cemetery near the German town of Waldalgesheim in the Hunsrück, is the type specimen of the middle La Tène style that takes its name from the same site. The flagon, a bronze pouring vessel with a long, beak-shaped spout, is decorated with a dense, swirling composition of plant-scroll and tendril ornament, with stylised flowers, fruits, and the occasional human face, all combined in a virtuoso arrangement of astonishing technical skill.
The Waldalgesheim flagon is one of the masterpieces of the continental La Tène tradition, and the combination of formal complexity, technical mastery, and aesthetic richness that it represents has made it a touchstone for the study of middle La Tène art. The flagon is now in the Rheinische Landesmuseum in Bonn, and it is one of the most visited objects in the museum’s collection of Celtic material.
The Broighter Gold
The Broighter Gold hoard, found in 1896 in a sand dune near Broighter in County Londonderry, Northern Ireland, is a hoard of late Iron Age gold objects of the highest quality, including a magnificent gold boat with mast, oars, and steering oar, a small gold torc, a gold bowl, a set of gold ingots, and a number of other items. The hoard was probably deposited in the first century BCE, and it gives a vivid sense of the wealth and the technical mastery of the late Iron Age Celtic aristocracy of Ireland.
The Broighter boat is the most remarkable single object in the hoard, a tiny but technically superb gold model of a sailing boat that has been interpreted variously as a votive offering, a model of a ceremonial vessel, and a representation of the boats of the Tuatha Dé Danann. Whatever its specific meaning, the boat is a masterpiece of the late La Tène goldsmith’s art, and it striking objects in the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin, where the hoard is now held.
The Great Sword Scabbards
The great sword scabbards of the middle La Tène period, including the Bermatingen scabbard from Lake Constance, the Weiskirchen scabbard from Saarland, the Vienne scabbard from the Rhône, and the Loughnashade scabbard from County Armagh, are among the most spectacular survivals of the La Tène metalworking tradition. The scabbards, which date from the fourth and third centuries BCE, are made of iron with applied openwork bronze fittings, and the bronze fittings are decorated with dense, swirling compositions of plant-scroll and abstract ornament, often combined with stylised animal and human forms.
The scabbards are technical masterpieces, and the production of a scabbard with openwork bronze fittings of such complexity and such precision was one of the highest achievements of the La Tène metalworking tradition. The scabbards were the personal property of the warrior elite, and the quality of the decoration was a sign of the status of the owner. The continental scabbards are particularly elaborate, but the surviving insular examples, including the Wandsworth and Battersea scabbards from the Thames, are equally impressive.
The Significance of the Masterpieces
The masterpieces of the La Tène tradition are not merely beautiful objects but documents of the highest historical importance. They show the technical mastery of the Celtic smith, the aesthetic sophistication of the Celtic elite, and the religious and social context in which the objects were made and used. The Battersea shield, the Gundestrup cauldron, the Snettisham Great Torc, the Waldalgesheim flagon, the Broighter Gold, and the great sword scabbards are the touchstones by which the Hallstatt and La Tène art styles are judged, and they are the foundation of the broader Celtic art and craftsmanship tradition.
Related Topics
- The Hallstatt and La Tène art styles of which these objects are the most spectacular survivals.
- The Celtic metalwork and jewelry tradition that produced them.
- The Celtic knotwork and symbolism that decorates them.
- The Celtic stone carving and high crosses of the same and later periods, which carry the ornamental vocabulary of the La Tène tradition into the early medieval period.
- The broader Celtic art and craftsmanship tradition of which they are the most famous surviving expressions.