A toast to memory of museum keeper

THE Irish Antique Dealers' Association recently made a special presentation to the director of the National Museum of Ireland, Dr Pat Wallace, of a 19th century bog oak meadar, with silver gilt lining. The presentation was made in memory of the late John Teahan, keeper of art and industry at the museum, who died a year ago this week.

The meadar, a wooden drinking cup of which this example was made by James le Bas in Dublin in 1858, was believed to have been in common usage in late mediaeval Ireland; the name is supposed to have derived from the cup's use for drinking mead.

The large number of handles around the cup seemingly allowed it to be passed from one person to the next in company. In the early 19th century, there was a drive to identify historic emblems of national pride, and the meadar, together with the harp, shamrock and Irish wolfhound, was a popular choice of artists and craft workers.