Editing Irish art (section)

===Up to 200 AD===
[[File:Ardagh chalice.jpg|thumb|The [[Ardagh Chalice]], c.? 750]]
Irish gold personal ornaments began to be produced within about 200 years either side of 2000 BC, especially in the thin crescent-shaped gold disks known as [[gold lunula|lunulae]], which were probably first made in Ireland, where over eighty of the around one hundred known examples were found. A range of thin decorated gold discs, bands and plaques, often with pin-holes, were probably attached to clothing, and objects that appear to be earrings have also been found.  By around 1400–1000 BC, heavier thin [[torc]]s and bangles have been found.

The Late [[Bronze Age]] of 900–600 BC saw the peak of the surviving Irish prehistoric goldsmithing, with superbly worked pieces in simple but very sophisticated designs, notably in a type of dress-fastener that looks like a double-ended trumpet curved round so that the two bell mouths are roughly pointing in the same direction. There are also a series of grand gold collars, representing a development of the lunula, with round plates at either end, and a broad corrugated U-shaped body, decorated geometrically along the ridges and troughs of the corrugations. Goldwork all but disappears in the [[Iron Age]], except for the late and enigmatic [[Broighter Hoard]] of the 1st century BC, which appears to mix local and Roman pieces.

Although Ireland tends to be strongly associated in the popular mind with [[Celtic art]], the early Continental style of [[Hallstatt culture|Hallstatt]] style never reached Ireland, and the succeeding [[La Tène style]] reached Ireland very late, perhaps from about 300 BC, and has left relatively few remains, which are often described by art historians together with their British contemporaries as "Insular Celtic".  Buried ironwork does not last long in Irish conditions, and gold is very rare, so the survivals are normally in bronze.  The [[Petrie Crown]], [[Loughnashade Trumpet]] and a series of discs whose function is mysterious are among the most striking pieces. The decoration on a number of bronze scabbards, many found in the [[River Bann]], have inspired much discussion, as they seem close to other pieces from as far away as Hungary, and the possibility of an immigrant master has been raised.  The [[National Museum of Ireland]] in [[Dublin]] holds the majority of major finds from the whole prehistoric period, with others in the [[Ulster Museum]] in Belfast and the [[British Museum]] in London.