The Insular TraditionCatherine E. Karkov, Robert T. Farrell, Michael Ryan State University of New York Press, 1997 M10 30 - 307 pages A generously illustrated collection, The Insular Tradition explores the various ways in which tradition becomes part of our definition of insular culture and cultural history. The essays are the outcome of a conference held within the Medieval Academy of America meeting at Kalamazoo in 1991. Scholars from America, Scandinavia, Britain, and Ireland came together to discuss the latest research on the remarkable Christian art which flourished among the Celtic and Anglo-Saxon peoples in the Early Medieval Period. New discoveries and a renewed research interest are shedding light on the splendid manuscript illuminations, sculpture, and metalwork of the time. Historical sources are reanalyzed and, together with modern approaches to interpretation, provide fascinating new insights into the social, economic, and spiritual background of the creative artists. This book presents a number of challenging reinterpretations of landmark achievements such as the Book of Kells, the Irish High Crosses, and the enigmatic symbolic and decorative systems of the Pictish people of Scotland. The contributors discuss the processes of creativity, the way in which influences are transmitted, the cross-fertilization of the arts in different media, and the role of trade and exchange and of the patron. Extensive illustrations, some of them difficult to source elsewhere, and comprehensive up-to-date bibliographies make the volume especially useful to those wishing to find a suitable point of entry into this expanding and ever-changing field. |
Contents
1 | |
Some Iconographic Problems | 9 |
SYMBOLS OF THE PASSION OR POWER? The Iconography of the | 27 |
Woman As Sign in | 45 |
Some Principles | 63 |
KING OSWALDS WOODEN CROSS AT HEAVENFIELD IN CONTEXT | 79 |
DANIEL THEMES ON THE IRISH HIGH CROSSES | 99 |
THE TOWER CROSS AT KELLS | 115 |
A Leap of Faith | 167 |
RECENT FINDS OF INSULAR ENAMELED BUCKLES | 189 |
FILIGREE ANIMAL ORNAMENT FROM IRELAND AND SCOTLAND OF THE | 211 |
THE MENAGERIE OF THE DERRYNAFLAN PATEN | 245 |
INNOVATION AND CONSERVATISM IN IRISH METALWORK OF THE | 259 |
An Overview | 283 |
Contributors | 301 |
Panelled Zoomorphic | 143 |
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Common terms and phrases
Anglo-Saxon Art Archaeological Ardagh chalice beaded wire beasts Bede Bede's Bewcastle cross Book of Kells Britain British carving Celtic filigree chip-carved Christ church Columba context Corpus County Cramp cross at Kells Crucifixion Daniel decoration depicted Derrynaflan chalice Derrynaflan paten diptychs Dublin Early Christian Early Medieval Echternach Gospels eighth century eleventh century enameled buckles England Evangelist evidence example excavations figure filigree filigree animal ornament foil head Heavenfield High Crosses hindquarters Hope-Taylor Hunterston brooch Ibid iconography inscription Insular Art interlace Iona Ireland Irish Art Irish High Crosses king Lindisfarne lion London Lough Gara metalwork Monasterboice monastery monastic monuments motif Museum of Ireland National Museum Nigg ninth century Northumbria Ó Carragáin Oxford pair panel Pictish plate Roman Rothbury Ruthwell Cross Ryan Saxon scene sculpture shaft Shrine stone style suggests surviving Sutton Hoo symbols Tara Tower cross tradition University Press Viking Whitfield Yeavering zoomorphic