Celtic culture has had a great influence on the design of
Tree of Life necklace pendants over many years - much of this appears often on the circular band around the tree as Celtic knots as in the image below
Celtic knot
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Stone
Celtic crosses, such as this, are a major source of our knowledge of Celtic knot design.
Carpet page from Lindisfarne Gospels, showing knotwork detail.
Almost all of the folios of the Book of Kells contain small illuminations like this decorated initial.
Celtic knots are a variety of
knots and
stylized graphical representations of knots used for decoration, used extensively in the
Celtic style of
Insular art. These knots are most known for their adaptation for use in the
ornamentation of Christian
monuments and
manuscripts, such as the 8th-century
St. Teilo Gospels, the
Book of Kells and the
Lindisfarne Gospels. Most are
endless knots, and many are varieties of
basket weave knots.
History
The use of
interlace patterns had its origins in the artwork of the late Roman Empire.
[1] Knot patterns first appeared in the third and fourth centuries AD and can be seen in Roman floor
mosaics
of that time. Interesting developments in the artistic use of
interlaced knot patterns are found in Byzantine architecture and book
illumination, Coptic art, Celtic art, Islamic art, Medieval Russian book
illumination, Ethiopian art, and European architecture and book
illumination.
Spirals, step patterns, and key patterns are dominant motifs in
Celtic art before the Christian influence on the Celts, which began
around 450 A.D. These designs found their way into early Christian
manuscripts and artwork with the addition of depictions from life, such
as
animals,
plants and even
humans. In the beginning, the
patterns were intricate interwoven cords, called
plaits, which can also be found in other areas of
Europe, such as
Italy, in the 6th century. A
fragment of a Gospel Book, now in the
Durham Cathedral library and created in northern
Britain in the 7th century, contains the earliest example of true knotted designs in the Celtic manner.
Examples of plait work (a woven, unbroken cord design) predate knotwork designs in several cultures around the world,
[2]
but the broken and reconnected plait work that is characteristic of
true knotwork began in northern Italy and southern Gaul and spread to
Ireland by the 7th century.
[3]
The style is most commonly associated with the Celtic lands, but it was
also practiced extensively in England and was exported to Europe by
Irish and Northumbrian monastic activities on the continent. J. Romilly
Allen has identified "eight elementary knots which form the basis of
nearly all the interlaced patterns in Celtic decorative art".
[4][5]
In modern times Celtic art is popularly thought of in terms of national
identity and therefore specifically Irish, Scottish or Welsh.
Examples
| Examples of Celtic knots |
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A small part of The Great Pavement, a Roman mosaic laid in AD 325 at Woodchester, Gloucestershire, England
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