originally had amber studs in the settings at the centre and corners.
l Decoration: The front of the cross is more decorative than the back. It is divided into areas of interlace and figure panels interspersed with cast bosses and areas of plain metal. The two openwork figure panels are almost identical. A kilted figure with an open-mouthed animal on each side may represent Christ between two beasts or Daniel in the lions’ den. All the bosses have chip-carved designs using a range of La Tène motifs.
Analysis
Compare the use of the human figure and pattern in the different crafts you have studied. Note the development of sophisticated design and technique in all the crafts.
The 7th and 8th centuries were a high point in Irish art and learning, when Ireland was the repository of scholarship for Europe, which was just coming out of the Dark Ages. It is extraordinary that the finest craftsmanship and scholarship of the age should have come from a society without towns and cities. Work of extraordinary technical skill and subtle design characterises the period. The representation of human and animal figures had become an important part of the design repertoire.
All the influences that came together to produce the style that we call Insular Art were fully developed by the 8th century. They created the standards necessary for the production of the amazing work in book painting and stone carving that followed.
The Human Figure During the 7th and 8th centuries, the human figure was more symbolic than realistic. The figures on the Carndonagh Cross, in the Book of Durrow and on the Tully Lough Cross all have large oval heads with large almond-shaped eyes, small noses and simple, straight mouths. Their bodies and limbs are
CHAPTER 24 THE GOLDEN AGE (7TH AND 8TH CENTURIES)
Man symbol for St Matthew in the Book of Durrow
Christ figure from the Carndonagh Cross
Figure 24.22 Human figures in 7th- and 8th-century Irish art.
small and simply treated. The figure of St Mark from the Book of Durrow and some of the minor figures on the Carndonagh Cross are not even given arms. Feet generally face the same direction and are shown in side view. Figures in the filigree sections of the Derrynaflan Paten are more animated but just as stylised (Fig. 24.22).
Animal Figures Animals are used in a variety of ways as part of designs. Simple birds appear on the Carndonagh Cross. Bird heads appear on the outline of the Tara Brooch and on the Initium page in the Book of Durrow, where we also find a kind of dragon head made of spirals at the bottom end of the letter I (Fig. 24.23). This relates back to the terminals on the Ballinderry Brooch. Still on the Initium page, we find a dog-shaped animal clinging to the top left corner of the page. He has relatives on the animal interlace page of the Book of Durrow (folio 192v), which
