44 DISCOVERY OF A GOLD CUP IN CORNWALL. 



similar to that of a diadem, found in the county of Limerick, 

 figured in Sir W. Wilde's Catalogue of Antiquities of Gold in the 

 Museum of the Royal Irish Academy, p. 24, fig. 551. 



Amongst other relics of gold obtained in Scotland, where such 

 objects have been found in considerable variety, I m_ay here 

 mention an armlet brought to light in Angus. It had been 

 deposited in a stone cist, and was accompanied by an urn ; this 

 example of the occurrence of ornaments of gold at the period to 

 which the interments of that description may be assigned, is re- 

 corded by Mr. Jervise, Memorials of Angus, p. 22-'\ 



Some remarkable examples of golden ornaments have been 

 brought to light in France, especially the rich treasure of 

 armlets found in Britany, as described by the Eev. J. Bathurst 

 Deane. The most singular object of the like precious material 

 is a relic found in 1844 near Poitiers.^' It was regarded by Eaoul 

 Kochette as Gaulish. In general form it bears resemblance to a 

 quiver; its length is 21 in., and the decoration consists, as on the 

 Scandinavian cups, of numerous concentric circles arranged in 

 bands horizontally, and stippled markings. The ornaments seem 

 to have been hammered up ; the metal, in this instance, is not 

 corrugated. The ornamentation may be compared with that of 

 certain Irish objects of gold, such as the cupped " fibula " in the 

 Museum of Trinity College, Dublin ; and the boxes, by some sup- 

 posed to have been used for mortuary purposes, in that of the 

 Royal Irish Academy, t 



It may seem scarcely necessary to remind the reader of the 

 frequent occurrence of small fictile vessels with early interments ; 

 it has been supposed, with much probability, that they had con- 

 tained food or drink, placed near the remains of the dead. :j: 

 Examples of such vessels of any other material, especially of 



» Arch. Journ., vol. i, p. 252. 



f Figured in Sir W. Wilde's Catalogue, Ornaments of Gold, pp. 60, 84. 



X Ancient fictile vessels, similar in some respects to the gold Cornish 

 cup, l3ut of less ancient periods, are doubtless familiar to the reader. I may 

 mention particularlj' a small one-handled c\x]i of earthenware, amongst 

 Roman relics brought before the Institiite in 1858 by Coimt Paolo Vimercati- 

 So2zi, of Bergamo. These objects were found in sepulchral cists of brick 

 near Lovere, in Lombardy. The cup, lathe-made, is round-bottomed, and 

 has a flat handle through which the finger could scarcely pass. 



