Celtic hanging bowl
- Gallery: Room 41
- Culture: Celtic
- Date: 7thC
- Object type: hanging bowl
- Materials: copper alloy; enamel
- Museum number: .1248.a.'70
- Museum: The British Museum
- Collection record: British Museum website
- Image © The Trustees of the British Museum, shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence.
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About this object
Before you is a Celtic hanging bowl escutcheon, a circular, openwork copper alloy decoration with striking visual detail. At its center is a plain Latin cross, surrounded by two stylized dolphins, their mouths open wide, jaws curving backward. Their eyes are marked by tiny punched circles, and their bodies are engraved in linear patterns, ending in long, tapering tails that loop back toward the cross. The dolphins are set with red enamel in engraved grooves, and their bodies are decorated with punched dots of varying sizes.
The hook base extends up into the openwork, dividing the dolphin heads. Engraved lines suggest manes or ears, and triangular fill-ups appear near the bottom of the design. The edges of the cross and escutcheon are beveled, while the back is dished and soldered. This piece, along with two matching mounts, once adorned a hanging bowl discovered in a sixth-to-seventh-century Anglo-Saxon cemetery. It reflects a blend of Roman-style craftsmanship with early Christian iconography.
See it in person
Celtic hanging bowl is on display in Room 41 at the British Museum on Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, London — free to enter. Choose British Museum on audioguide.london and take a photo of it to hear this free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
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