Celtic Art - A Brief Overview by Tara NicScothach bean MacAnTsaoir

[Dept of PMM Artists & things]

500 - 450 BC is when Celtic society and culture are generally seen to be emerging, particularly in the Middle Rhine and northeastern France (the "Early" La Tene period). However, as the 6th century BC writer, Hecataeus of Miletus, indicates that the hinterlands of Massalia (a greek colony) and ancient Noricum (Austria) were Celtic, we will also be looking at the Hallstatt period as well.

In Books II and IV of 5th century BC history, Herodotus writes that Celts were in the Danube region as well as, "beyond the pillars of Hercules", indicating Celtic settlements in Iberia also. Expansion south to Italy, east to the Balkans, in western France and the British Isles is historically and archaeologically shown. The Celts mixed, mingled and adapted the traditions of those they settled amongst and Roman expansion also contributed other influences. As Celtic society didn't remain static but was constantly changing and evolving, so did the art of the Celts.

The three main sources we have to draw on are written accounts by Classical observers (fragmentary and distorted by their preconceptions), written accounts by Celtic sources (mainly Irish and Welsh hero tales and Codes of Law written down in the Christian period) and archeological material uncovered (mainly from gravesites).

The two divisions of the Pre-Roman Iron Age were named (by Hans Hildebrand in 1872) after the sites where most of the material has been uncovered. In 1881, Otto Tischler divided the La Tene period into three phases - Early, Middle and Late - based on changes he observed in the forms of swords and brooches, and, in 1944, Paul Jacobsthal came up with four main 'styles' - Early Style, Waldalgeshim Style, Plastic and Hungarian Sword Style ( the last two overlapping). In their book, Celtic Art, Ruth and Vincent Megraw give this definition of Celtic art: "A minimal working definition of Celtic Art is that it encompasses elements of decoration beyond those necessary for functional utility, though those elements represent a form of symbolic visual communication which is only partially accessible to us."

Much of Celtic art was very eclectic - foreign influences were assimilated only if they fit into the Celtic syntax and visual symbolism. In other words, the Celts only adopted/adapted that which was pleasing to them. Their art was essentially aniconic and basically religious and the natural veneration of animals by a pastoral people is seen in the many finds of bull, deer, birds and human figures with animal attributes. Goddess and triple personifications were also seen, and seem to have been associated with, water, the land and generation/procreation.

During the Hallstatt period, the use of iron became more common and, while this is thought of as a major breakthrough from an archeological viewpoint, it took a long time before it had any real impact on society as a whole. Bronzeworking requires different skills than those for ironworking and bronzeworkers did not easily acquire these new skills. As a result, ironworking remained the province of the elite for quite some time. However, as iron ore was more available than the tin and copper for bronze, as well as being harder and keeping a better edge, it was used more and more for weapons and tools. Bronze was still used for decorated objects (more easily worked/cast and corrodes less easily) and many an iron sword had an ornate scabbard of bronze.

Trading connections were widespread and new cultural influences were introduced. Some of these were: inhumation burials with funerary wagons in wooden chambers - warriors buried with horse gear and weapons; new, larger type of horses used more and more as mounts; the growth of a series of nuclear communities under control of a local power center.

Hallstatt art is generally divided into two zones - the eastern and the western. Hallstatt, between the two zones, was close to copper ores from Tyrol, iron ores from the east, and, of course, the salt mines. Salt mining was done from the late Bronze age until Roman times. The archaeological division of the two zones is as follows: in the eastern zone they used the socketed axe, in the west, the long iron sword; settlements and cemeteries are larger in the east; pottery shapes are similar but in the east, some narrative scenes are seen, while in the west, decoration is almost exclusively done with geometric designs; eastern metalwork shows full-length human figures and uses narrative art which is rarely seen in the west (as well as Celtic art in later periods).

Most of the fine metalwork of the Hallstatt period has been found in cremation graves, over half of that found from a small number of warrior burials. Horse and rider clay figures found are thought to be token burials for those not wealthy enough to take a real horse and gear to the grave. Bronze or pottery cattle figures may have also been used as substitutes for the real thing and have also been found used as handles of vessels. One well-known example of this is the cow with a calf found on a bronze bowl in cremation grave 671.

Pottery and metal were decorated with geometric designs in both zones. "Chip-carving", a technique derived from wood carving, was one of the techniques used to apply these designs. (V-shaped grooves are cut or impressed into the pottery or metal piece.) A stamp of concentric circles was another technique used. Color was also applied using graphite and red oxides. Sheet bronze metalwork was often decorated using punched dots.

Typical eastern weaponry consisted of spears, socketed axe, breastplate and helmet with double ridges and a provision for a crest, as found in a barrow in Kleinklein (eastern Austria). Bronze vessels found in the barrows here are decorated with dot-punches, repousse and stamping in narrative scenes, which is reminiscent of situla art from Italy. This orientalizing Etruscan art influence is found as far back as the late seventh century and remained almost unchanged until approximately 400 BC. Also seen in situla art are elements of greek mythology and decoration, but this influence probably came via Etruria rather than directly from Corinthian foundations. Sphnixes, griffons, lions, certain forms of hatching and backward looking animals are all oriental elements that were absorbed into the Early Style of La Tene art.

While the eastern zone saw no major changes in culture and art during the late Hallstatt period (Hallstatt D), the western zone saw dramatic developments occuring. This period saw the emergence of the so-called "princely" settlements and very rich burials. Gold ornaments, especially neckrings, are found in graves. The neckrings are thought to be symbols of physical, and possibly spiritual, rank. New centers of power grew up at key positions on the Danube and Rhone rivers away from the salt mines of Hallstatt itself. There is growing evidence of increased contact and trade with the Mediterranean culture, as well as extensive trade with other parts of Europe. Bronze wine vessels from the Greeks and Etruscans and Attic black-figure pottery, probably from Massalia (Marseilles) have been found in graves of the period. These things, along with gold ornaments also found in graves, attest to a society that not only could attain these riches but inter them as well.

The short dagger replaced the long sword in male graves. These were probably not used in battle but were simply symbols of rank. While some long swords are still found, other weapons or defensive armor are rarely found in graves. Another development was the use of the fibula (safety-pin brooch) rather than the previously used simpler pins.

From the Eberdingen-Hochdorf barrow in Baden-Wurttemberg, we can see some of the characteristic features of the princely area graves. The barrow was originally 60 meters in diameter. A ramp led down from an opening in a stone wall. Though most of the barrow was destroyed by ploughing, the central wood-lined chamber survived that, as well as the grave robbing to which most rich graves were subjected in prehistoric times. The walls were hung with hangings and textiles covered the floor. Nine drinking horns were hung on the southern end, and a four-wheeled wagon held three bronze bowls, nine bronze plates, an axe, a knife, harness for two horses and a bronze decorated yoke.

The 'prince', thought to be forty years old, was six feet tall and covered with gold from head to foot. The neckring, armring, brooches and belt were made of gold, his hilted dagger and shoes were covered with gold leaf. Rows of tiny horses with riders can be seen on the neckring. Gold was probably imported from Bohemia or the Iberian peninsula and, as all the gold was produced with the same punch and gold debris was found inside the mound, it is thought that it was made specifically for this burial.

The most unusual feature of the burial however, is the three meter long upholstered couch which was placed on the western end of the chamber. The couch is embellished with punch-dot decorated sheet bronze and a schematic four-wheeled wagon drawn by two horses with a driver carrying sword and spear can be seen on each end. Between these two are three pairs of long-haired figures armed with true swords and fighting or dancing. The eight feet of the couch were bronze female figures with arms upraised and bone and amber inlays to denote neckring, armrings, ankle rings, belt and pierced ears. Six of them are mounted on wheels so that the couch was actually on casters.

Contrary to the usual custom, the body was laid on this couch rather on the wagon and the copper acetate salts preserved some of the organic material very well. Some strikingly colored bits of embroidery can still be seen. The idea of reclining while drinking and the narrative scenes recall the art of the situla and the eastern Hallstatt influence. Classical influence is seen in the bronze cauldron found in the northwest corner of the chamber. One meter in diameter and almost one meter high, it was placed on a wooden structure covered by a badger skin instead of the usual tripod. Two of the three couchant lions and the three massive bronze handles that had been soldered on the rim appear to have been adapted from a larger vessel imported from Greece or the greek colonies. The third lion has been nicknamed 'the rat' by excavators and seems to have been separately, and more expertly, cast by Celtic imitators, though it is of a lower artistic quality than the others. One of the imported lions also shows an unfinished incised mane that is thought to be an addition of the Celtic owners and shows the process of selection, imitation and transformation used on classical imports by the Celtic craftsmen to transform Hallstatt art into La Tene art.

Large pottery continued to be handmade until the very end of the Hallstatt period when the potters wheel was introduced from the Mediterranean. This transition period, from the sixth to the fifth century, was a time of political and psychological (as evidenced by the increase in "amulets" in graves) turmoil, though it appears to have been mainly internal as archeological records show no evidence of external pressures or invasions. Some possible explanations are: revolution against hated tyrants; fundamental changes in political or religious systems; epidemic disease; local agricultural failure. However, a violent rejection of the old way of life is suggested by the grave robbing and destruction of the Hallstatt D tombs and settlements.

The hundred or so barrow graves in the Middle Rhine and Hunsruck-Eifel are where most of the most characteristic and richest material of the Early La Tene Style art comes from. These areas were also the most artistically innovative, richest and hierarchical materially. They maintained and extended trading links with the Mediterranean, though this was conducted over the Alps with the Estruscans rather than with Greek or Italic peoples. The Celtic passion for wine at feasts (and serving it in the afterlife too) is shown by Attic pottery and Etruscan bronze wine vessels. Celtic flagons, brooches, scabbards and neckrings have mediteranean coral inlays. Basic necessities such as ores, slaves and salt were probably exported in trade. Agriculture must have been efficiently carried out as the population seems to have increased during the fifth century, leading to Celtic expansion in the fourth century.

In areas where Greek and Italic influences were concentrated, Celtic Craftsmen began to copy designs. They were highly selective in this process, taking the more congenial forms such as lotus flowers, palmettes and acanthus foliage and ignoring the narrative forms. The transformation of the lotus flowers, palmettes, etc. is an important feature of the Early style and, over time was transformed into a continuous form which was the basis of the later emerging Waldalgesheim or 'Vegetal' style of the late fourth century BC.

Some of the outside influences tranformed by the Celts can be shown in the material found in the Kleinaspergle barrow grave. The main chamber had been robbed before its excavation in 1879, but a side chamber remained untouched and contained cremated remains. It is thought to be the burial of a woman, a foreigner to the region arriving by marriage or conquest, due to the secondary position in the mound. A pair of gold leaf covered drinking horns, a plain bronze cauldron, an Italic cordoned bronze bucket, an Etruscan bronze stamnos, two Attic pottery drinking cups and a Celtic beaked bronze flagon - imitating Etruscan forms - symbolize the funeral feast.

The bronze flagon's handle was decorated with a bearded, cartoon-like face, thought to be based on Silenos, but with puffed out eyes and cheeks, pointed ears and a symetrical beard. Two similar faces appear at the top of the handle, spilling out onto the rim, where lions generally appeared on Etruscan vessels. Neither human nor animal, the face does have feline characteristics.

An Etruscan vessel found in a Weisskirchen grave has a similar face on the handle escutcheon of an imported Etruscan stamnos. This time however, the face is human, with beard and mustache. Sources indicating that (to the Celts) the head was the seat of the soul, as well as intellect, seem to be borne out by the abundance of highly stylized human heads appearing on a wide range of metalwork.

Hallstatt patterns (linear and floral geometric) persist into the La Tene period but are now used more as decorative fill-ins than as the central design. Palmettes and lotus-buds, and the triple whorl or triskele patterns appear on many pieces of sheet goldwork. Beaded edging which outlines other elements of a piece is a characteristic of much Rhineland work and much of the goldwork which has been found is thought to be the work of a single craftsman. It is also thought that there may have been craft centers under princely patronage in the Rhineland as there are so many related gold and bronze pieces. This patronage would have made access to imported materials such as gold and coral much easier. Similar items found in Belgium, Czechoslovakia and Switzerland could then have been the result of trading or gift-exchange rather than the work of traveling craftsmen.

Some attractive examples of 'oriental' influences can be found in some gold torcs and bracelets from the Middle Rhine and Switzerland. A central face crowned with inverted bottles or balusters is found on a gold bracelet found in a male grave. Part of the bracelet is heavily ornamented and the balusters form an openwork crest around this area. Crouched on either side of the face are two backward-looking animals (ibex or rams), and two other masks form studs between another pair of backward-looking animals. There is a lot of detail on the parts of the bracelet that would have been seen but it was quite plain on the part that was worn against the body. The bracelet is balanced, but not symmetrical, and the non-symmetry causes the eye to roam over the bracelet rather than fixate on one area.

Balusters are also found on a woman's torc (which was lost in WW II). Three lotus buds form the platform on which they sit, flanked by backward-looking birds. The first impression one gets when looking at the torc is one of total order, though it is not a symmetrical piece either.

The adoption of classical plant motifs is most often found in those areas which also have the greatest concentration of imported Mediterranean pottery and bronze and is a specialty of the Marne and Middle Rhine regions. The adaptation of these motifs is found, not only in the cast metalwork, but also in engraved works. Celtic tastes seem to have been more elaborate than the tasteas of their suppliers as many imported pieces have been engraved. Many designs were laid out with compasses, a technique which may have been borrowed from the Mediteranean region.

Not all designs were curvilinear however. Rectilinear patterns were also used - the most notable examples of this come from the Marne region. A plaited zigzag done in rocked-chisel tremolo decorates a scabbard that is edged with a dots-and-ring motif. From a warrior's grave, which included weapons and the wherewithal for a funeral feast, a pointed 'Berru' type helmet with a rectilinear design, and decorated with coral, was found between the feet of the warrior. An active school of specialist engravers seems to have operated in eastern France during this period. Engraved designs of the familiar palmettes, with dotted infilling to give the effect of light and shade, are found on several pieces.

When the LaTene Celts began expanding from their homelands into Italy and Greece, new developments in art began to appear - the Waldalgesheim style. A 'princess's' burial provides some key objects that show this style. Chief among these are a gold torc and armlets. Two of the armlets and the torc have buffered ends and a design of running tendrils with human faces incorporated into them. The faces, however, have a tendency to disappear when you look at them, giving rise to the name "Cheshire" style. Over two hundred items from what was probably her jewelry box were found at the princess' side including many beads (mostly amber, but also some polychrome glass).

Less regard for symmetry and greater verve in the use of vegetal patterns characterize Waldalgesheim art - so that is sometimes called the 'Mature' or 'Vegetal' style. The development of this style is shown on many helmets that have been found. Cap-shaped, with a crest or fitting for a plume, and sometimes with cheek-pieces, some may have been made in Italic workshops though definitely under Celtic influence. Repousse bronze and gold plates, coral insets, friezes made up of lyres, palmettes and half-palmettes, a linked series of triskeles made of debased palmettes, an open ironwork frieze in a "running dog" pattern, wave patterns, tendrils and ring-and-dot fills-ins are some of the decorative techniques used in this period.

The writhing tendrils design was quickly adapted by Celtic armorers for bronze scabbard embellishing. Stamped versions of this design are found in St. Germainmont, Larchant, Epias-Rhusand the Saone Valley, as well as from flat grave cemeteries near a large Late La Tene site at Manching, Bavaria. This design technique is also found on single-edged knives from Iberia. A key piece in the development of the "Sword Style" is a sword found in Liter (western Hungary) which has an elegant, asymmetrical design.

Many of the patterns used on metalwork were used on pottery as well. Some pots found in the region of Castellou-Peron resemble the techniques of eastern French metal engravers, so that it has been described as "Metal Style" pottery.

The use of the potter's wheel helped Celtic potters to develop new pottery forms. Flasks with squat, widely flared bases and tall, narrow necks were widespread in northeast Bavaria, northern Austria southern Bohemia and western Hungary. One of the finest examples shows incised decoration of "antithetically placed boars, a pair of hinds, looking over their shoulder while a third grazes, a stag, and a pair of geese or bustard; these have been interpreted as a series of male-female confrontations". (Celtic Art) A dog pursuing a hare is also visible.

Potters also borrowed techniques from metalworkers. For example, compass-drawn lines added to stamped decoration, producing a curvilinear design which is actually a flying bird, are found on a pottery fragment from Polesovice. Fine pottery seems to have been traded and exchanged, though it was less prestigious than the metalwork, probably because of its fragility.

The later third of the third century BC marks the beginning of the Middle La Tene period, when the ironsmiths came into their own as artisans. While most of the graves found contain no grave goods at all, when they are found, women's graves contain mainly armrings and anklets - torcs seem to have become a male perogative - and ornamental bronze or iron belt chains. Men's graves contain iron swords, scabbards and casting spears, with shears or single-edged iron knives sometimes found as well.

The original center for the developing Sword Style seems to have been the Transdanubian area of Hungary around Lake Balaton. Vegetal Style motifs, as well as older techniques and motifs from the eastern regions form the essence of the decoration of this style. Sword scabbards with a dragon-lyre decoration are found throughout the Celtic regions. Variation of the acanthus patterns were used laterally and diagonally, the tendrils spilling out over the surfaces of the swords and scabbards. Bird's heads also appear, in abstract form, with concentric circles and simplified lyres stamped on a scabbard found in Potypuszta, Hungary. Sword Style art was mainly made up of more austere, abstract patterns which were incised into the object - not so surprising considering it was made by armourers for actual use in battles. Anything that stuck up or out could have been detrimental to the life of the user!

Many of the swords found were dredged from rivers - possibly votive offerings? - and much of the decoration is sometimes hard to recognize due to the corrosion of the iron. However, some three thousand objects were recovered in 1874-77 by Emil and Paul Volga amongst the remains of buildings and two bridges spanning an old stream bed (Jura waterways). These deposits suggest local trading posts rather than ritual deposits.

Developing at roughly the same time as the Sword Style was the Plastic Style. Abstract or plant-derived designs, as well as human and animal representations are found on pieces of this style. Conceived from the beginning to be a three, rather than two dimensional design, Plastic Style art is heavier and more static than the style preceding it. It is more flamboyant and sometimes grotesque in appearance. Nancy Sandars calls it, "a style that is balanced between nature and solid geometry". (Art of the Celts)

Because it has the ability to produce recognizable forms with an economical use of patterns of abstract human and animal heads, it has sometimes been called the "Walt Disney" style as the designs have a 'cartoon-like' look to them. Some of the best examples of this are found on chariot fittings found near Paris. Clean-shaven faces with bulbous noses and little chins bring to mind earlier designs based on lyres and spirals.

Another example is a bronze spout for a wooden flagon found at Durrnberg in a warrior's grave. The contents of the flagon were poured out through the mouth of a crocodile (Celts served as mercenaries in Egypt so this is entirely possible) or perhaps a boar. Behind the crocodile is a bull with nostrils flaring which appears as a grotesque human face with almond-shaped eyes when looked at from the spout end.

Most 'Disney Style' is cast in bronze or gold and has elements found in both the preceding Vegetal style and the Early La Tene motifs, unlike the Sword Style which is mainly incised decoration. Objects of the two styles are rarely found together, possibly because the Disney style was the domain of the bronze and gold-smiths and the Sword Style the domain of the new class of armourers working in iron.

Most frequently found in stone and bronze, Celtic sculpture generally portrays the grim and uncompromising. Most images are of gods or supernatural beings and are often roughly hewn. Celtic stone carving may have been learned as far back as Hallstatt times as suggested by a Hirschlanden statue, carved from local stone, of a man, naked but for a belt with a dagger. With hunched shoulders, sturdy legs and crossed arms, he once stood over a barrow of a warrior.

An example of early La Tene sculpture is a truncated rectangular tapering pillar from Pfalzfeld. A face shaped like an upside-down pear with a leaf crown and framed by cables stares out of a Early Style design from each side of the pillar.

From the second century BC is a sculpture of a solitary head found in a sandpit near a shrine in Msecke-Zehrovice, Czechoslovakia. There is a buffer-ended torc around the neck and twirling mustaches and small protuberan eyes with bushy eyebrows grace the face. There is more "characterization" than is normally found and thus it is thought to be a caricature representation of a real person or stands for a "hero" of unknown appearance.

The most grotesque sculpture of the southern Gaulish area is known as the "Tarasque de Noves" and depicts a snarling monster with a human arm hanging from its mouth. Its forepaws rest on a pair of bearded human heads which sit on the rear paws. (Tis hard to describe-a frontal view may be found on page 80 of Art of the Celts by the Laings and a side view on page 170 of Celtic Art by the Megaws.)

The most famous of the surviving wooden sculptures are a group from Source-de-la Seine. Of varying quality, they show little classical influence. One of the best is of a pigeon-toed figure with no arms, an exagerated head and a "somewhat unconfident air" (Laing).

From the last days of Gaulish independence comes a bronze sculpture of a cross-legged figure in sheet bronze. The arms are missing, as is one of the inset glass eyes, and the tiny legs end in feet that resemble deer hooves. It is seated in a cross-legged position, wears a torc round its neck and the treatment of the hair suggests Roman portraits of Augustus.

Of great importance in Celtic myth are cauldrons and fragments have been found in Danish peat-bogs of one made of bronze. A romanized, female face with empty eyes (once filled with inlaid glass) and a buffer ended torc is flanked on each side by ox-heads. Two wild beasts flanking a triskele are found on the inner plate. Possibly made by more than one person, the symbolism is Celtic and it probably made its way to Denmark via trade or the warlike wanderings of the Cimbri. The torc is of a type that was current in France in the last years of the 1st century BC or the early years AD.

The most famous cauldron is, of course, the Gundestrap Cauldron whuch was found, dismantled, on the surface of a peat-bog in northern Jutland. With a combined weight of almost 9kg, five internal plaques, a basal disc, and seven out of eight square external plates survived. Recent study has shown that the plates were made by several different artists, perhaps by 2nd century Thracians.

Some of the iconography is Celtic: a cross-legged, antlered god, wearing a torc and holding another in his hand; warriors with helmets crested with boars or birds of prey; animal-headed war trumpets; circular harness mounts; shield-bosses of the Late La Tene type. Celtic dogs, wolves and bulls are seen, but so are more exotic animals - lions, dragons/griffons, elephants, and even a boy on a dolphin.

The basal disc was made by someone more accomplished than those who made the side plates and features a bull, most likely dead or dying. Above the bull is a human figure brandishing a sword - probably the tool for the sacrifice. Also found on the disc are two dogs, and a lizard in a foliage pattern.

Processions of warriors, a squatting god with antlers and holding a snake and a torc, passively standing lions, ibex, griffons, elephants and leopards are some of the images found on the side plates of the cauldron. An oversized figure holding another, smaller, figure upside-down over a cauldron has been interpreted as possibly a god of war offering sacrifice or as a representation of the bringing a dead hero back to life by immersing the body in the 'cauldron of plenty'.

Though first used in Asia Minor during the late 7th century BC, the Celts did not begin striking their own coins until the 4th and 3rd centuries BC. Based on Hellenistic prototypes, Celtic coins were cast in silver (in an arc from the mouth of the Danube through northern Italy and southern France) and gold (north of the silver belt from France to Bohemia). First cast as blank flans, the coins were then struck between engraved metal dies. Later coins, made of bronze or potin, were cast in strips.

Many Celtic coins survive from the continent, though it is unlikely they were used in regular trade but rather as status objects in gift exchanges and diplomacy, offerings, and (possibly) tributes. The early coins are imitations of classical, Hellenistic coins. Tetradrachms of Philip II of Macedon (359-336 BC, Zeus on one side and a victorious rider on the other), Po river drachms of Massalia and the didrachms of Rhoda were models used in the "silver-belt". North of this region, the gold stater of Alexander III (336-323BC helmeted Athene head on one side and winged victory on the other) and the gold stater of Philip II (commemorative coin of his Olympic victory 356BC) were the common prototypes.

Traditional imagery abounds in Celtic coinage. Boars, an occasional sow, eagles, woves, bears, horses, ravens, ducks, crows, hares, snakes, cocks and goats are found frequently. Torcs and war trumpets are held by figures and wheels, comets, trees and cauldrons are also seen. As more and more of Gaul fell to the Romans, more roman influence is seen in the coinage; for example, a Roman eagle surmounts a very Celtic horse on gold coins of the Biturgies Cubi of central France.

Ambiani coins (Celticized head of Apollo) were among the first coins that came across the Channel in significant numbers. Some of these coins appear to have been coined as payment for Belgic aid against Ceasar. Found in grave deposits, the head of Vercingetorix appears on gold and bronze coins of the Averni. Rome also recorded the wars on their coins - the bowed figure of a Celtic warrior appears on a silver denarius coined in 56 BC. The warrior is thought to be Vercingetorix himself.

Continental Celtic art was probably kept alive during the roman interlude, though most likely in perishable materials, but had no chance of surviving intact due to Germanic elements (the Mergovingian and Frankish kingdoms) becoming dominant.

Archaeological and historical sources cannot prove definitively *when* or *from where* the Celts reached Britain, but both Celtic 'P'(Welsh) and 'Q' (Gaelic) language groups are known there, supporting the theory that two separate groups of Continental Celts reached the islands. However, recent reseach suggests that later prehistoric British Celtic culture was more of a gradual development than a result of successive invasions. No archeaological evidence of continental Celtic immigrants has been found in Ireland. It is thought that the native Late Bronze Age culture continued in many areas, changing little, slowly adopting and creating Celtic culture. The few La Tene continental-style objects found in Ireland are most probably imports or possessions of immigrants.

In mainland Britain however, small groups of settlers did arrive. Arras, Wetwang Slack, Garton Slack and Garton Station are all related sites in Yorkshire which date back to approximately 300 BC. Chariot burials, such as those found on the continent in the Early La Tene period, have been found in these areas and nowhere else in Britain.

Sometime in the late 2nd or early 1st century BC, Belgae from northeast Gaul arrived in Britain. Scholars are divided on the dating of the archeaological evidence found (continental coins, a new-type of wheel-thrown pottery, cremation burials) in south-east Britain. So, while Caesar recorded that the Belgae invaded approximately 25 years before he did (in 55 & 54 BC), recent research disputes this saying the coins could have been brought by others than settlers and the pottery could have come later than did Caesar.

Continental links appear to have been strong in the 7th to 5th centuries BC, weakening in the 4th to 2nd, and reviving again in the 1st century BC. Insular Celtic art flourished until the romanization of southern Britain. However, by this time the traditions must have been firmly enough entrenched that they were able to revive them at the end of Roman rule (early 5th century AD).

While the insular Celts did use iron, they were still using bronze for sword scabbards and shields when the continental Celts were using iron. Gold and silver were both mined and worked as well. The pottery wheel wasn't introduced until the 1st century B.C. so regional specializations in pottery are quite probable. Little trace of the finished products of woodworking and textiles remains, but evidence of tools used in these skills has been found. Evidence of considerable skill in glass and enamel production has also been found.

J.M. de Navarro put forward a numerical sequence which related to the continental art styles (I - Early, II - Vegetal/Waldalgesheim, III - Sword). Ian Stead followed this line of thought but with two additional insular styles (IV & V). Stead suggests that insular Celtic art began at roughly the time period as continental Celtic art, the 5th century BC.

As insular Celtic art styles I,II & III have counterparts on the continent, this paper will not detail the artifacts found. We will take up with style IV, which, though it shares some similarities with the continental Sword style, had no direct counterpart on the continent. Found on high-relief modeling, as well as sword scabbards, engraved ornamentation is assymetrically arranged on pieces of this style.

A recently found sword and scabbard is possibly the earliest example of this style. Its stylized patterns seem to be based on dragons; tightly coiled spirals and hatched infilling are also used to decorate the scabbard. Other designs used on objects of this style are the heads of birds, comma-shaped leaves with spiral endings, all-over decoration and engraving combined with relief modeling. While some of these features are also found on the continent, the tightly coiled spirals are distinctly insular.

Most of the objects of this style found are the weapons and trappings of important warriors or high-ranking women, and most have been found in lakes and rivers, although some have been found in graves. A group of eight scabbards found in or near the River Bann in Ireland are thought to be products of a north Irish metalworking school. Characteristics of these are all-over patterns of running tendrils and s-curves with hair-spring tendrils. Found in a cemetery at Wetwang Slack, Yorkshire are other scabbards and a round bronze box with a chain attached, which may point to closer ties between Ireland and Britain (artistically) than has otherwise been supposed.

Relief modeling is also used, as shown on a pony cap from Torrs, Kirkcudbright. Bird heads and trumpet spirals in repousse decorate the piece. Found with the cap are two horns which had been attached, though they may not really belong together. The horns may actually be terminals for drinking horns and have engraved decorations of a facing human mask and bird's heads similar to those found on the pony cap. Evidence of repairs are visible on both the cap and the horns.

Related to Style IV, Style V is traced most readily back to East Anglia and the Iceni. Engraved patterns seen now are more symmetrical, with basketry infilling, and are used on mirrors and other items, and new forms in relief modeling are seen on torcs, horse bit rings and other items found.

The finest example of the Iceni torcs is the Snettisham torc which is 20cm in diameter. The dating of its deposition (mid-1st century B.C.) is based on a continental Celtic coin found in one of the terminals. Made of electrum (a silver and gold alloy) the main body is formed from eight strands composed of eight wires each and twisted into cables which are fitted into hollow ring-terminals. The terminals have been decorated with relief work and hatching done with a round-ended punch.

The Snettisham style characteristics - cire perdue casting, basketry work, slender commas, trumpet coils, raised beads with punched indentations, fitting the design to the shape - are also found on quite different artifacts. One of these is the Waterloo Bridge helmet from the Thames which, despite its being a popular vision of a warrior's headgear, was probably never meant to be worn. Aside from its small size, the metal is thin and would not have offered much in the way of protection. The decoration across the front is of asymmetrical inlaid enamel, similar to the torc but spread out over a larger area, and the massive horns are decorated with the punched, raised beads and end with the raised knobs with depressions that were found on the Snettisham torc.

The Celts adopted polished metal mirrors from the classical world and most of the ornamentation on those found is a hatched tripartite design produced with a compass and tracing. Something to keep in mind as you admire these pieces is that most of them were created to be held with the handle pointing upwards. Chesire-type faces appear when held this way that are not seen with the handle pointing down. Most likely, the mirrors were held handle up by ladies' maids and then hung on the wall to be shown off at their best.

The skills and techniques of the Celtic smiths show them to be technological masters of their craft. Each piece of ornamental metalwork was an original as they broke the mold after casting and finished each piece by hand. Thanks to a chance discovery of a pit at Gussage All Saints in Dorset, we know something of the techniques employed. Filled with the debris of ornamental metalworking, the pit held seven thousand fragments of molds, including fifty sets for making horse and chariot fittings, as well as fine bone tools used for modelling the wax and some iron implements that had corroded.

The casting of bronze was combined with other skills as well. Iron objects sometimes had bronze decorations cast onto them or were covered with bronze by dipping or with sheets of bronze. Coral and red glass or enamel was probably imported from the Mediterranean to use in inlaid ornamentation. Pieces were heated to soften them, shaped and placed on the object. Champleve enamel work became a hallmark of Celtic smiths - powdered glass was poured in a design cut in the surface and then heated in an oven to fuse it to the piece. Celtic artists had added other colors of enamel to the basic red before the roman conquest and continued their enamel work all through the occupation.

In the last century before Roman rule, Celtic artists began making many items representing both animals and humans. Pigs, boars, cattle and horses are featured frequently and are found as figurines (most likely votive offerings) and as decorations on bowls, buckets, fire-dogs, etc.. Recognizable human figures are still rare but heads and masks appear in place of animal decorations on some items. Also found are decorative handles for tankards, though most of the tankards did not survive as they were usually made from wood.

Insular Celtic coins followed continental models but, though copied from the classical coins, were used to express Celtic traditions. The earliest coins made have very abstract designs and are not inscribed. During the last of the 1st century BC and beginning of the 1st century AD, coins in south-east England were mostly dynastic - modeled on Roman prototypes. Though conventional descriptions of the coins describe Greco-Roman characters (Jupiter, Heracles, Apollo, etc.), a closer look at some reveals simply 'the horned god' while others show what looks to be a person wearing a bear skin.

The thought that insular Celtic coins have distinctly Celtic meanings is borne out by the fact that the coins were not widely distributed (as they would have been if coined for trade with the Romans) and that the subject matter shows representations not found anywhere in classical art.

During the time of Roman rule, artist patronage underwent changes. Outside areas ruled by the Romans, warriors still needed artwork 'proving' their power and worth (jewelry, decorative scabbards, bowls, tankards, etc.). In areas of Roman rule, however, Celtic ornament became largely something of the "lower classes" and patronage was mainly for artwork that was as "classical" as possible. However, Celtic art did not die out during the Roman times. Brigantia, Wales and the Caledonian lands north of the Forth-Clyde line were not under control of the Romans and traditional patronage continued, influencing the tastes of those in more 'Roman' areas.

In the late 1st and 2nd centuries AD, openwork bronzes of Celtic style were made, not only in Britain, but in Switzerland as well, and have been found all over the Roman empire. Harness-mounts found in South Shields, Tyne and Wear are some of the finest examples of this style and show a triskele of confronted trumpets which end in swollen, folded-back tails.

Simple designs related to patterns found centuries earlier in Britannia appear on a series of pins and brooches produced in the 4th century AD. Named as a result of their resemblance to a clenched hand, the pins are called 'hand-pins', and developed from earlier ring-headed pins. The brooches are penannulars - a pin swivels around a circle with a small section missing which allows the pin to be inserted into the material. First produced in pre-Roman Britain, by the 4th century AD the terminals bore a faint resemblance to animal heads.

Economic contacts between Britain and Ireland were re-established in the late 4th century AD, most likely as a result of raids by the Picts and the Irish on Britain. Items brought back by raiders inspired local artists, and by the 6th century, penannular brooches were being produced at Clogher.

England's population in the 5th century was mainly Celtic, the Anglo-Saxon advance being a gradual process, so it is natural that the metal-working techniques had an influence on the newcomers. Penannular brooches are one of the surviving traditions but hanging bowls are a more significant one.

Most bowls are small, with three or four escutcheons with hooks for chains, and one or two decorative roundels inside or outside the bowl. The earliest bowls have plain or bird-shaped escutcheons and are decorated with flowers, petlas and trellis patterns. Other bowls found have been decorated with enamel and millefiori. The hanging bowls are the last true Celtic metalwork produced in England, though Celtic styles continued to be an influence. As the bowls themselves were very thin, most have not survived and all that is left are the escutcheons (handles pieces).

The conversion of Celts to Christianity coincides roughly with the decline of Roman power in Britannia and marks a new phase in Celtic art. As new trade routes opened up, new ideas and objects, as well as the Gospel, were brought to Ireland. Monasteries were founded in the 6th century and had become rich and powerful communities by the 8th century. These were a focus for the writing down of learning which gradually replaced the oral traditions and law of the old ways.

Christianity was only one of many eastern religions brought to the Celtic lands by the Romans but it was the only one that put down lasting roots. From the urban Roman provinces it spread out and by the 5th century there were small areas in northwest England, Cornwall, Wales, Galloway and possibly Ireland. While Christianity in Britain appears to have been wiped out for a time by the invading Saxons, it survived in the Celtic west.

It was in the monasteries established that much of art of the Celtic Renaissance was produced. The scribes that produced the illuminated manuscripts were highly regarded artists. Their designs were often worked out on thin pieces of bone or stone - these 'motif pieces' are more commonly found in Ireland than in Britain.

The illuminated manuscripts were done on vellum. Laid out with compasses, rulers and templates, they were decorated with quill pens and brushes in a variety of pigments, some of which were very costly and had to be imported from far away. Celtic designs were used to decorate these artifacts of a non-Celtic religion, in a manner alien to the Celtic visual/oral tradition, ie., the written word. Many symbols and designs found in these manuscripts are also found centuries earlier on objects such as the Gundestrap Caldron. In many cases, the subject matter is quite clear but the meaning of the symbolism has been lost.

The decorated initials of the Cathach are the first examples of decorative characteristics of the illuminated manuscripts. The first letter of each psalm is enlarged and then decorated with a variety of different designs such as trumpet-forms, petla shapes, small wavy lines, dots, and spirals. Red dots inside the initials provide the only color (though it is possible that yellow was also used inside the initials as well). Tradition has it that Columba transcribed the Cathach, though, as Columba died in 597AD, this date seems early to some scholars who point to the dot and fish motifs as similar to those used on Coptic manuscripts which probably didn't reach Ireland until 613AD.

More richly decorated than the Cathach, the Book of Durrow combines both Celtic and Saxon features. Here are found the first examples of the broad ribbon interlace (probably from Coptic manuscripts) and a quite different type of interlaced animals (found in germanic art) being incorporated into Celtic art. Both of these types of interlace became major features of Celtic metalwork and manuscripts, and, combined with the Celtic motifs and rectilinear patterns are the essential elements of the Hiberno-Saxon style.

Written on suede-surfaced vellum (more receptive to colors than the vellum used on the continent), the Book of Durrow has more elaborately decorated initials and adds 'carpet' pages facing the beginning of each gospel, as well as designs representing each of the four Evangelists. These designs are two-dimensional and animals and humans are not naturalistically portrayed.

Non-religious art also shows the changes in art styles, as the tendency becomes that of filling all available space with decoration. Interlace ribbon design combined with raised spirals decorate a brooch found in Ardakillon, Co. Roscommon. The Tara brooch is elaborately decorated on both the front and the back, though the back would only have been seen by the wearer (and even then, only when putting on or taking off the brooch). The techniques of casting, engraving, intaglio, filigree, as well as the use of enamel, molded glass and amber, were all combined in the making of this famous brooch,which was actually found in a wooden box on a beach near Bettystown, Co. Meath and not at Tara.

Found in a hoard which had been left during the Viking raids, the Ardagh chalice is one of the finest pieces of Celtic Christian ornamental metalwork surviving. It is a liturgical vessel composed of two beaten silver bowls (one 'right-side-up' and the other 'up-side-down'), with a cast gilt-bronze band to hide the junction of the two. Plaques decorated with filigree and red and blue glass hold handle loops on the sides and medallions which are similarly decorated are placed on the front and back of the top bowl. Just below the rim and around the foot is a gilt-bronze decorative band.

The free-standing stone crosses seem to have developed at the beginning of the 8th century AD in Ireland. Fragments of one cross found in Tipperary show an incised cross and lettering on one face which are similar to that found in the Lindisfarne gospels (discussed later on) and, on the reverse face, are found similarities to the Ardagh chalice. As it appears to have been based on a wooden cross prototype, a tradition of wooden crosses prior to this period is quite probable, as is the thought that the crosses would have served a variety of purposes, most probably as a focus of meditation.

High Crosses - those with scriptural scenes on the shafts - also appeared around the 800's. One of the earliest is the South Cross at Kells with its disordered and innovative scenes. The earliest surviving group of these crosses is found at Iona (an Irish colony). These crosses show techniques derived from jewelry making. St. John's Cross has large bosses which are similar to those found on the Tara brooch. Other features found on St. John's Cross, and on St. Oran's Cross as well, are similar to those found in the Book of Kells (discussed later on).

Some crosses found in Ireland show features more commonly found on metalwork - hatched-edge mouldings which recall filigree work and bosses representing rivets. They appear ungainly though the structure is strengthened with a ring that connects the arms and shaft. The lower portion of the cross, however, is much more finely decorated, using features typically found in metal and manuscript are as well as those found in stone work.

The Lindisfarne Gospels and the Book of Kells are the epitome of the Celtic illuminated manuscripts. Written approximately a century apart, both are replete with rich colors and intricate designs. Books of this period were made of vellum, either calf or sheep-skin, and were therefore quite costly to produce. The Lindisfarne Gospels are writen on calf-skin vellum and required at least 129 large sheets of vellum to maek up its 258 pages. As the spines of the animals run horizontally across the pages, it is quite likely that 129 calves gave up their lives for this book.

The sheets of vellum were stacked in groups (of approximately 4 sheets each), then folded in half to make the pages. The top page was then carefully measured and the page area marked by pricking through all the sheets with a sharp round stylus or knife. Each sheet was then individually ruled with a dry point so as to leave as little trace of the lines as possible when the writing was finished. Vertical lines on either side provided margins as well as guidelines for placement of the initials.

The writing was done with either quill pens (from goosefeathers) or reed pens. The ink used in the Lindisfarne Gospels is dark brown/black and contains particles of either soot or lampblack. The designs on the carpet pages were built up over a framework much like graph paper and it is likely that preliminary sketches were made though none have been found. Most probably these sketches were made on wax tablets which could be warmed, smoothed and re-used rather than on costly sheets of vellum.

A wide range of colors was used, and while specimens could not be removed from the pages, they have been examined microscopically under different types of light. The medium used to bind the colors was probably either egg white or fish glue and color sources include red and white lead, yellow ochre, verdigris, kermes (red), yellow arsenic sulphide, gall, woad, indigo, folium (from the turnsole plant), lapis lazuli and gold.

The Lindisfarne Gospels were the product of the labors of four men. Eadfrith, who became bishop of Lindisfarne in 698AD, wrote and decorated the pages. As he would probably not have had the time to do this work after becoming bishop, it is thought that he did this while he was a senior member of the scriptorium. Examination of the book has suggested that it was done over a period of at least 2 years without any major interruptions.

Ethelwald, who became Bishop of Lindisfarne after Eadfrith (721AD), bound the Gospels, though the binding disappeared long ago. Billfrith the Anchorite made the gold, silver and jeweled ornaments for the outer casing, but it is not known what they looked like as they have also disappeared. Around the mid-10th century, a priest named Aldred added an Anglo-Saxon translation of the Latin and wrote a colophon on the last page which names these men (himself included) as the makers of the book.

The Lindisfarne Gospel has 15 pages which are elaborately decorated. These include a cross-carpet page and a major initial page at the beginning of the manuscript; an illustration of each author's symbol, a cross-carpet page and a major initial page which precede each gospel; and another major initial page which precedes the story of the incarnation in Matthew. Also included are 16 pages of Eusebian Canon tables which are themselves decorated as well as being enclosed within decorated arcades.

Maunscripts as richly decorated inside and out were intended for ceremonial use, playing a symbolic, as well as practical, role as they represented the Word of God. The decorated page preceding St Matthew shows him seated, writing in a manuscript, and accompanied by a mysterious man peeping out from a curtain and by his symbol - a winged figure blowing a trumpet. St. Mark is also shown seated and holding a book and is accompanied by his symbol - a winged lion bowing a trumpet. St. Luke is holding what appears to be a page of manuscript (rather than a book) in his lap, and is accompanied by a winged calf which is carrying a book in its front legs. St John is the only one that is seated facing the reader and his symbol is an eagle carrying a book.

On several of the major pages of the Lindisfarne Gospel, a small part of the design has been left unfinished or a detail that doesn't match the rest of the page has been introduced. It is doubtful that these are the result of a major interruption and it is thought that Eadfrith was practising humilty by avoiding perfection (much as our Native American cousins do with their artistic creations).

Most ornate of all the gospel books is the Book of Kells. Written in the latter years of the 8th century, the work was done by at least three scribes and three illustrators - though the scribes may themselves have been the illustrators. One illustrator did the Evangelists' portraits, one the dramatic scenes, and one the ornamental pages. The latter has been named the "Goldsmith" and was familiar with metalworking design/techniques as well as painting/illustrating. Of its 680 pages (think of it - approximately 340 calves or sheep!), only two are not colored. Its place of origin is unknown, however, though only a major monastery would have had the wherewithal necessary (skills and talents). Recent opinion is that it was begun at Iona, and, when the community transferred to Kells, it went along , possibly being completed there.

The script used in the writing of the Book of Kells is the Insular majuscule (other scripts used in manuscripts are uncial and insular minuscule.) In addition to the lavishly decorated illuminated pages found in other manuscripts, there are beautiful decorations found within the lines of the text itself. The Book of Kells has not survived intact - St. John's gospel stops short in the middle of the 17th chapter and some of the Preliminaries before the Gospels are no longer with the manuscript. The pages average 13' x 9.5" and as such, the book was not intended for daily use or for study but for ceremonial use.

Errors in spelling, latin grammar and even translation are all to be found in the Book of Kells (as in the other illuminated manuscripts), many of which have not been corrected. These may be due to many things. A good grasp of the grammar, syntax and vocabulary, as well as training and experience in reading the work of other scribes and the writing itself was required. If a scribe did not have all these, or was copying from a manuscript written by one that didn't have the necessary skills, errors were inevitable. Illegible writing, an incomplete knowledge of Latin, unintelligible abbreviations, etc., all contributed to the possiblity of errors in writing a manuscript.

In the Book of Kells, for example, the Canon tables are basically useless as the numbers used are not also printed in the appropriate text for correlation purposes. This is also the case with the Breves causae. Their beautiful decoration takes one's attention away from this fact however, and as the book was not intended for scholarly study, these missing numbers probably didn't cause much of a problem.

The Canon Tables, Breves Causae, Argumenta and glosses (which are incomplete) are all placed as Preliminaries before the Gospels, which follow in uninterrupted sequence in the Book of Kells. This is a slightly different arrangement from the Book of Durrow (from which they were most likely copied) where most of them are placed as Preliminaries with two of the Breves causae follow the gospel of John.

Errors in the text of the Gospels could be the result of compiling it from several sources while putting it together or by copying it from a text that had itself been compiled in such fashion. However, some of the text came from the Book of Durrow or from a manuscript that either the Book of Durrow had been copied from or copied from the Book of Durrow itself.

The first four pages of the first Gospel are written in double columns while the rest of the manuscript is written in long lines across the entire page. The letter shapes are strong and symetrical, with vertical shapes written thickly and horizontal strokes thin and sometimes used to connect letters. Run-overs occur frequently which makes reading the manuscript a confusing task. Rather than using slanting lines to point the direction (up or down) to read, a small figure or animal is used.

There is much too much artistry in the illuminated manuscripts to even begin to do justice to in a paper of this length, so I have not even tried to do so. Some of the pages are reproduced in the sources listed below and the reader will probably find things to see in them that I wouldn't have described had I attempted the task. My hope in writing this paper was simply to introduce the reader to the vast array of Celtic art.

GLOSSARY

Anchorite- a hermit

aniconic - applied to simple material symbols of deity, as a pillar or block not shaped into an image of human form; also to the worship connected with these (Oxford English Dictionary)

Argumenta - collection of anecdotal details about the Evangelists

balusters - inverted bottle shaped ornamentation

basal disc - disc found at base or bottom of a piece

basketry infilling - used to fill voids. groups of lines are set at different angles - resembles a basket

Breves causae - summary referring to numbered divisions of text

Cheshire style - faces which have the tendency to disappear as you look at them

Cire perdue casting - also called "lost wax casting". a wax model was made and cast in clay. the wax was then melted out, and the object was then cast in the clay mold which was then smashed to remove the object.

colophon - inscription used on title pages of books etc.

couchant - reclining

cross-carpet page - illuminated page with a cross as the main focus

curvilinear - curved lines of decoration

escutcheon - ornamental plate placed around handles, or used to hold the rings of a hanging bowl

Eusebian Canon Tables - a system devised by Eusebius, Bishop of Ceasarea, to provide a way to readily locate parallel passages in the Gospels

glosses - translation of the Latin into English, written between the lines of text

hair-spring tendrils - loosely coiled spirals of thin lines

Insular majuscule script - formal script developed in early Christian Ireland

Insular minuscule script - a cursive and time-saving form of insular majuscule

palmettes - oriental motif resembling a palm frond

pelta - motif that resembles a mushroom slice with thin stem and curved cap

rectlinear - straight lines

relief modeling - design is built up on the top of the piece

repousse - design on metal hammered into the piece from the back

stamnos - tall vessel with two handles and cast decoration on the handle plates

tremolo - design effect made by 'quivering' the tool on the piece

uncial script - script using all capital letters

vellum - calf skin. has a smooth side and a 'hair' side. how well it was prepared dictated the quality of the work done to some extent.

---

Sources:
Art of the Celts, Lloyd and Jennifer Laing, Thames and Hudson Ltd, London, 1992, Library of Congress Catalog Card # 91-66018.
The Book of Kells, Peter Brown, Thames and Hudson Ltd, London, 1980, ISBN 0-394-73960-4
Celtic Art - From its beginnings to the Book of Kells, Ruth and Vincent Megaw, Thames and Hudson Ltd, London, 1989, ISBN 0-500-27585-8.
The Celtic World, edited by Miranda Green, Routledge. London, 1995, ISBN 0-415-05764-7
The Lindisfarne Gospels, Janet Backhouse, Cornell University Press. Ithaca, NY, 1981, ISBN 0-8014-1354-0
The World of the Celts, Simon James, Thames and Hudson Ltd, London, 1993, ISBN 0-500-05067-8

[Dept of PMM Artists & things]

Here are some example gif images of celtic knotwork that have been submitted to Ceolas. If you are interested in making your own figues, you may be interested in Drew Ivan's online guide to creating celtic knotwork. His celtic bibliography also has a good listing of books on this subject.
If you have a Windows PC, you might also like to try Steven Abott's free programs to draw knotwork.
Another knotworkers:

• Marc Wallace - knotwork and construction information.
• Joscelin Cockburn
• Some pages from the epitomy of celtic art, the Book of Kells.
• Some celtic art from Alastair Luke.
• Tutorial on making celtic knotwork (in French) by Christian Mercat.
• Celtic Art Links from Pat Fish's Celtic Art Tatoo site.

Courtesy of Josh Mittleman:
knotline1.gif
knotline2.gif
knotline3.gif

If you use these in your Web pages, Josh asks that you add in a pointer to his Bodhrán Page, where this artwork was first used.

 

---

Courtesy of an anonymous donor:

These are all available from the Ceolas ftp site (ftp://ceolas.org) in /pub/misc/celtic_art

[Dept of PMM Artists & things]

Celtic Symbols and Signs For centuries, Celtic symbols and signs held incredible power for the ancient Celts in every way of life.

Today, we can learn about this power and utilize it by learning the language of Celtic symbols.

The word "Celtic" refers to people who lived in Britain and Western Europe from 500 BC and 400 AD. Celts were of the Iron Age and lived in small villages which were led by warrior chiefs.

The written records remaining from the Celts of Europe are scant, therefore signs and symbols can be hard to determine and trace. Many facts come by way of the Romans, who conquered the Celtic lands during the rise of the Roman Empire.

Regardless, thanks to time-honored traditions, (like story-telling) enough history was salvaged, and the Celtic heritage remains strong.

 

In honor of the bravery and magic of the Celts, and to celebrate their rich history, I now provide you with a wealth of information

[Dept of PMM Artists & things]

Celtic symbol meanings are tough to track because there are minimal known surviving written records of indicating specific Celtic symbol meanings.

Quite a bit of understanding about Celtic use of symbols comes from conjecture and supposition from authorities and historians of ancient Celtic culture.

This is not a bad thing because this allows us to tap into the mystery of the Celtic way, follow our hearts, and open up to our intuition when it comes to Celtic symbolism.

[Dept of PMM Artists & things]

Triskelion Meaning as a Celtic Symbol

In a nutshell, the triskelion Celtic symbol meaning deals with competition and man's progress. The Greek term triskelion literally means "three-legged," and appropriately, this sign looks very much like three legs running.

The triskelion (also referred to as triskele, triquetra or fylfot) Celtic symbol meaning holds two major components of symbolism.

First Component:
When we observe this symbol, we are taken with the concept of motion. All three branches (legs, protrusions, angles) are positioned in such a way so as to make the symbol appear as if it is in constant forward motion.

This is no accident as this feeling of motion in this symbol represents:

• action
• cycles
• progress
• revolution
• competition
• moving forward

 

Second Component:
The three protrusions (legs, angles, branches, etc) are of significant symbolic importance. However, depending upon the era, region, culture, mythological history, etc...symbologists can have a challenging time defining the exact symbolic meaning of the three protrusions. The various representations of the three protrusions found in the triskelion include:

 

• Spirit, Mind, Body
• Father, Son, Holy Ghost
• Mother, Father, Child
• Past, Present, Future
• Power, Intellect, Love
• Creator, Destroyer, Sustainer
• Creation, Preservation, Destruction

 

All of these (and still yet more) can be designated for each of the protrustions found in the triskelion - it is simply up to the observer (or originating culture) to proffer up these meanings.

The combination of these two components (motion and triad attributes) lead us to the conclusion that this Celtic symbol meaning tells a story of forward motion in the endeavor to reach understanding (within the context of one of the many triad dynamics above listed).

This prominent Celtic symbols may also represent the three Celtic worlds:

• The Otherworld: Where spirits, gods and goddesses live.
• The Mortal World: Where you and I live along with plants and animals.
• The Celestial World: Where unseen energies live and move about. Like the forces of sun, moon, wind and water.

 

An interesting side note - the number three is a powerful energy for seemingly infinite reasons. One such representation of number three deals with the three primary measure-marks within the phases of the moon (new, half, full).

This is a worthy point because most lunar creatures are depicted as only having three legs in Alchemical and early European esoteric art.

When we add lunar implications to the meaning of the triskelion we are dealing with:

• mystery
• feminine
• intuition
• subtleness
• subconscious
• spirituality
• illumination
• hidden desire

 

As you can see, the Celtic symbol meaning of the triskelion is more far reaching than just "three-legged." When we combine the variables listed here with the concept of motion and evolution and illumniation, we find that the Celtic symbol meaning of the triskelion has much broader connatations.

In short, the sum of this Celtic symbol meaning is:

• personal growth
• human development
• spiritual expansion

[Dept of PMM Artists & things]

Celtic Trinity Symbol and Triquetra Meaning

 

The Celtic symbol for trinity has a myriad of symbolic meaning.

We see the trinity motif in Celtic knots, as well as in symbol-form like the triquetra and triskelion (a.ka. triskele or fylfot)

To the ancient Celtic mind, it may also signify the lunar or solar phases. This conclusion is made as we see the trinity/triquetra motif alongside other solar and lunar symbols in ancient remants and archeological digs.

Validating this theory, we know the Celts honored the Great Mother, a lunar goddess who was actually three personifications in one (three lunar phases and faces of the goddess).

Some three-pronged Celtic meanings for the triquetra (trinity) symbol include:

• Spirit, Mind, Body
• Father, Son, Holy Ghost
• Mother, Father, Child
• Past, Present, Future
• Power, Intellect, Love
• Creator, Destroyer, Sustainer
• Creation, Preservation, Destruction
• Thought, Feeling, Emotion
• Mother, Maiden, Crone
• Other world, Mortal world, Celestial world

 

The Celtic symbol for trinity may also pertain to the three Bridgits. Bridgit is one powerful goddess (aspect of Danu), who embodies three aspects which are:

• Art
• Healing
• Metalsmithing

 

The circle often seen around the triquetra signifies the infinite and eternity. It also represents protection. Circles are often drawn around Celtic knots to represent spiritual unity with the devine - a connection that shall cannot be broken.

This wide array of interpretations reminds us that the meanings of these engaging knots are not set in stone. As mentioned, sketchy remnants of historical records on the subject causes us to use our own powers of deduction.

This isn't a bad thing. The very fact that the Celtic knot meaning is so elusive makes more room for magic and allows for personal expansion. In short, let your imagination soar when contemplating Celtic art, knotwork or symbolism. Your personal interpretation will ultimately be your best guide, and the only answer you need.

[Dept of PMM Artists & things]

Spiral Symbolism

A few spiral meaning keywords to start our spin around spiral symbolism will include attributes such as: Balance, Progress, Direction, Initiation, Centering, Expanding, Awareness, Connection, Journeying, Development.

Perhaps it’s most prolific appearance is in Celtic symbology where we see the spirals decorating a myriad of their ancient artifacts. In Celtic art and symbolism, we can intuit a few meanings from the forcefully present spiral:

• Evolution and holistic growth
• Letting go, surrender, release
• Awareness of the one within the context of the whole
• Connectivity and union with deific and cosmic energies
• Revolutions of time, stars, planets and the way of natural progress

 

I particularly like this last "connectivity to the Divine" observation. Indeed, I think ancient Celtic artists used the spiral symbol as a mind-altering creative process in which the act of creating a spiral in their work released their minds into a creative splendor. Perhaps that’s why we see them dominate the Celtic world; out of a strong desire to step outside the physical and enter a gossamer domain where dreams and intuition take hold of awareness.

Try it for yourself! Paint your own spirals. Draw spirals. Make spiral symbol mosaics. Use any media that appeals to you to create spirals, and as you do, imagine the controls of your mind loosening with each outward wave created as you move out in a spiral motion of your creation.

This exercise is similar to coloring mandalas. The idea is to get lost in the grandeur of creating. The mandala or spiral symbol is a partner in creation and can launch our dreaming mind into profound realms of awareness.

You can get your whole body into the spiraling creative process. Walk a spiralling labyrinth as a conscious ritual for growth, just like some of our Native American forebears did (and still do). Dance in spinning spirals, just like the Whirling Dervishes do (whose dance is symbolic of the cosmic dance of the universe). Find ways to express the spiral meaning with your whole being, the results should prove profound.

Speaking of the dance of the universe, in astrology, the spiral meaning sparkles with an understanding of a universe in constant motion. And, as science can attest, our universe spirals out infinitely, thus reinforcing the concept of our endless skies.

In terms of spirituality, the spiral symbol can represent the path leading from outer consciousness (materialism, external awareness, ego, outward perception) to the inner soul (enlightenment, unseen essence, nirvana, cosmic awareness). Movements between the inner (intuitive, intangible) world and the outer (matter, manifested) world are mapped by the spiraling of archetypal rings; marking the evolution of humankind on both an individual and collective scale.

Moreover, in terms of rebirth or growth, the spiral symbol can represent the consciousness of nature beginning from the core or center and thus expanding outwardly. This is the way of all things, as recognized by most mystics.

Gaining more expansive awareness of the spiral meaning, we can contemplate its appearance in the natural world. Consider:

• Vines
• Snails
• Seashells
• Tornadoes
• Curled up Snake
• Twisting tree trunks
• Whirlpools in Waters
• Animal Horns (like Rams horns)