Compiled from brilliant illuminated manuscripts such as The Book of Kells, this collection spotlights the Christian iconography of ancient Britain. These colorful ornaments date from the Roman occupation through the Norman conquest. Abounding in intertwined lacings, abstract animal figures, meticulously drawn letters, winding scrolls of foliate designs, and uniquely solemn religious imagery, they offer a wondrous variety of ancient ornamental artwork.

Fifty-three full-color plates capture the earthy, often primitive art forms of ancient Irish and Anglo-Saxon culture. Selected from incredibly rare manuscripts, this wondrous variety of ornamental artwork is alive with intertwined lacings, abstract animals, and meticulously drawn and detailed letters, as well as solemn religious imagery.

Much of early medieval Celtic and Anglo-Saxon art is based on the display of motifs – key, interlacing, spiral and zoomorphic – in well-defined panels in simple and complex arrays. A study of the arrangement of the panels and the fine detail of the motifs indicates that the artists relied on geometric methods and principles first used by Egyptians and Greeks. This book reflects Derek Hull’s life-long interest in interpreting the exciting and exotic patterns revealed by scientific studies using light and electron microscopes. His interest in Celtic and Anglo-Saxon art started with a casual observation of an interlacing pattern on an early medieval stone cross set in a churchyard. There followed many years of exploration of art in metal, stone and vellum from all parts of the British Isles and Ireland, resulting in some fascinating discoveries. Celtic and Anglo-Saxon Art reveals new and intriguing facets of these works that add to our appreciation of the beauty of the art and the skills of the artists. "This is a book for lovers of Celtic art, design and calligraphy, and will both delight and captivate... A must-have for both the cognoscenti and enthusiasts of Celtic religious art."—Cambria

The mystery and beauty of Celtic tradition is colorfully reflected in its art, from the heyday of tribal pagan worship to the scriptures and accounts of Celtic Christian saints. Courtney Davis captures the essence of the spiritual and artistic link developed by this unique race long ago in gorgeous full-color representations, along with a lively narrative of the scribes charged with preserving it all.

Selected from 19th-century reprints of medieval manuscripts, 355 full-color illustrations depict a wide range of subjects — from birds, florals, animals, and geometrics to letters of the alphabet embellished with flowers and sinuous vines, mythical beasts, musicians, whimsical figures emerging from flowers, knights in battle, and much more.

This book surveys the full richness of Celtic art and discusses the settlements, social structure, cultural backgrounds, foreign contacts and the technological and spiritual developments that created it. Taking into account the archaeological and historical contexts as well as the art-historical, the authors attempt to get closer to the art through the people who created, ordered, paid for and enjoyed the many treasures illustrated here, such as the Tara Brooch and the Monymusk Reliquary as well as countless less well-known items some discovered as recently as 1994.

A beautifully illustrated study of Celtic arts -- style, development and revival - and the relationship between art objects and identity, covering 2500 years of history.

To meet the demands of this first comprehensive catalogue of Anglo-Saxon stone sculpture, Professor Cramp, the series editor, has devised a new system of description capable of dealing with the complex ornament of the material. As well as classifying forms, shapes and decoration, she also discusses techniques of carving, dating methods and epigraphy. The extensive use of line drawings to illustrate each point makes this the most useful and compact work produced on the subject to date--an invaluable reference tool for anyone interested in early medieval art and design.