No. 8] A CELTIC RELIQUARY. 15 



the circular medallions there have been three square panels deco- 

 rated with interlaced-vvork. The shrine is described and illustrated 

 by J. Anderson, Scotland in Early Christian Times, (first series), 

 p. 246. 



Only the three shrines just described, belonging to this parti- 

 cular group of reliquaries, are at present known in the British Isles. 

 The fourth one is preserved in the Copenhagen Museum, being 

 according to the old catalogues of the Museum carried there from 

 Norwa3^^) The shrine has a form and size similar to the pre- 

 ceding ones, the roof, hovvever, being somevvhat less hipped.") The 

 covering bronze piates are on the face decorated with engraved 

 interlaced patterns in the Celtic style. On the same side vve see 

 the three circular medallions, the space within the raised horders 

 being filled with Celtic spiral designs recalling very much those on the 

 Melhus-shrine. On the other side there are square panels with 

 settings for glass and precious stones. The joints are partly co- 

 vered with mountings, these, however, not being tubular, but flat 

 and lying close to the wood. The projecting gable-heads have 

 also a somevvhat different form. A Runic inscription scratched on 

 the bottom reads "Ranvaig owns this casket".^) In the shrine are 

 lying some scraps of silk-stuff and a couple of relics provided 

 with labels of parchment reading: De sta Lucia, de ligno crucis. 

 The date of the handwriting is rather indeterminable, probablj' the 

 14th centur}'.'^) The history of this shrine seems thus in its broad 

 features to have been as follovvs: Agreeing closel}' with those 



^j J. J. A. VV o r s a a e, Nordiske Oldsager i det l<gl. Museum i Kjobenhavn, 

 Kbh, 1859, fig. 524. G. Stephens, The old-Northern Runic Monuments 

 of Scandinavia and England, Vol. I, 476. I. Undset, Norske Oldsager i 

 fremmede Museer, Kra. 1878, p. 63. J. Anderson, Scotland in Early 

 Christian Times, (first series), p. 248. 



-) This reliquary seems thus to represent a transition from the older, strongh' 

 hipped-rooled group to the younger which is characterized by vertical gables. 

 Of the still existing specimens belonging to the older group it might there- 

 fore be taken to be the j'oungest one. 



^) The runes belong to the peculiar group found in Ihe i.sle of Man, the Xor- 

 wegian district Jæderen, OstergiJtland and Gotland. My friend Mr. Magnus 

 Olsen has informed me that the inscription can hardly be older than .AD. 950. 



■') According to the kind information of Dr. M. M a c k e p r a n g, Copenhagen. 



