THE ELEMENTS OF CELTIC ART

BY
E. K.

CARMICHAEL,

M.C.

PUBLISHED BY AN COMUNN GAIDHEALACH AT 114 WEST CAMPBELL STREET, GLASGOW

1922
Price

One

Shilling

i.

THE ELEMENTS OF CELTIC ART

THE ELEMENTS OF CELTIC ART

BY
E.

K.

CARMICHAEL,

M.C.

PUBLISHED BY AN COMUNN GAIDHEALACH AT 114 WEST CAMPBELL STREET, GLASGOW

1922

LAURISTON CASTLE LIBRARY ACCESSIUN

real Ilritain
tlic

by T. and A. C(jnstable Ltd.

lidinbingli Univerbity Press

The

first

two

chapters

of

the

following-

were

written at the request of the Arts and Industries

Committee of

An Comunn

Gaidhealach

for children

of thirteen years of age and over.

They

are

now

being published as

an. introduction to the

study and

application of Celtic Art, and a third chapter has

been added, more

for the benefit of

grown-ups.

The author hopes

stimulate

that

this

little

book

will

some one

to

produce one more worthy

has only been able

of the vast subject

whkh he

to hint at in thes6- p-ages.

Teanroit, Beauly,
18/8/22.

The

illustration of

the

Thames

Shield

is

reproduced by permission of the Director of

the British

Museum, and
Academy.

that of the

Ardagh

Chalice by permission of the Council of the

Royal

Irish

THE THAMES SHIELD

[British

Museum)

CHAPTER
Celts,

Before you can understand about the Art of the you must first know what Art is, and what
it is,

use

Art

is

and how it began. the making of things

is

beautiful,

and the

purpose of that beauty

to

make

us glad

when
to

we
us,

see

it.

The

world

seems a better place

living,
;

and
is

life

more

worth

when we
the

see

something that pleases us

thing

and

if

beautiful
feel

something that we can

it.

use,
is

we

we
nice

can do better work with

This
like
if

even true

about
clothes.

clothes

most
?

of
feel

us

to

wear

Don't you

happier

you are wear-

ing pretty clothes

But even our clothes must

ideas

be suitable

for

whatever we are doing.

first

Probably the
primitive
religion
;

of Art,

even among

man and
but this

savages, were connected with

is

a big subject and need not

be entered upon here.

They
cutting

first

the

hair

began by decorating the person, by in peculiar ways and painting

the face and body, and later on by wearing beads

and

ornaments
A

and

then

skins

and

clothes.

When

people began to
2

make weapons, and have

9

THE ELEMENTS OF CELTIC ART

houses and furniture, they gradually got the idea
of

making-

their

weapons and
a

furniture

pretty

by putting patterns on them.

ever,

They
pretty

saw,

howon

that

merely putting

pattern

a sword handle or a clay pot did not necessarily

make a handsome sword

more
that
to

or a

handsome pot

they found that the shape of the article had really

do with

its

beauty than the decoration

was put on

to

it.

These ancient people did

not often

make
;

things only for the sake of their

being

pretty

they

made
its
it.

things

because

they

required

to use

them, so that the usefulness of

not
beauty,

an

article,
in

and

was
if

the

first

purpose

making

Thus

man were

making a sword, he would pay far more attention to making it a good sword than to making it beautiful, and he would not allow any shape to be given to it, or any ornamentation to be put on to it, that would spoil its balance or
interfere with
its

usefulness.

And

if

making a
as

stool,

he would

first

try to

man were make it as

sit

strong and
possible.
its

steady and

comfortable to
far

upon

Then, as
strength,
its

as

he could without

spoiling

steadiness and comfort, he

to

would design

shape or outline so as
;

make

that as elegant as possible

to

do

this

he might

make

these

six pictures,

and choose the one he

liked best, as you can do.

lO

THE ELEMENTS OF CELTIC ART

Now
in

deciding

which of

these

designs he
3

would choose,
be

he would see that

No.

would
No.

not be a strong stool, and that No. 4 would not

very steady,

and
rather

that

No.

and

6,

besides

being

affected
legs.

and

unnatural,

would require curved

For these he would

that were the
right
it

have
shape,

to find

bent branches

or

to

bend wood with steam so that

In
this

would stay bent.

way

the

wood

that

TTT7-n7T\
TTT
was
legs.

rh 7K
would
the

at

hand
In

suggest

the

most
shape
straight

natural
for

and therefore the most

No,
feel
is
i

artistic

the

legs

come
No.

down,
legs

and

you

that

the joint

between the
2

and the top

as strong,

strong.
little,

In

the

legs are
is

splayed out only a

and the joint

looks firmer.

nearly

and the

stool

In No. 3
in

the

legs

are splayed
is
still

still

more than
the
to

No.

2,

and there
setting,

less
feel

chance of the stool upthat

legs

but you

may

break
it

away where they

are joined
II

the top, and

THE ELEMENTS OF CELTIC ART

is

just

the

feeling

within

you that
for
its

this

shape
that

weak and unsuitable will make you say that

is

purpose

it

is

ugly.
it

The same
is

is

the

case

with
the

No.
joint
is

4,

but here

not the
of,

weakness of

that

you are
ugly
in

afraid

but that the stool

not steady and

itself

may

upset.

There

is

nothing

in

having the
for

supports

narrower

below

than

above,
in

the

two wheels of a
behind, are like

cart,

looked at from

front or
things,

this,

and so are many other

cart
it

but

in

the

case

of the
that

is

to

make
it

the

wheels stronger

they are
above,

closer

together
looks

below
quite

the
well

axle

than

and
this

so
is

and

satisfying.

So

another

very

important

thing about
these
for

Art which can be

learned
great

from

pictures

that

there

is

tendency
it

a thing to look well simply

its

because
pose
;

looks strong and suitable for

there
is

pur-

but

also a

tendency
looks

for

a thing

to look

clumsy and ugly

necessary.

if it

much

stronger

than
stool

is

So

the

man

in

making the

portioned

must take care that the legs are well proto the weight they have to carry.
having chosen
his

Now

design,

he would
if

make

his stool as well as

he was able, but

he were

anxious to

make

a really beautiful stool he might

it

think of decorating

with some patterns.

Here
If

again the

man

has got to stop to think.

12

he

THE ELEMENTS OE CELTIC ART

carves a pattern on the top of the stool he

may
so

make

it

uncomfortable to

sit

upon, the legs would

be too thin to ornament except by turning,

not by
poker,

he would probably decide to decorate the top,

but

carving

it,

but by
it

marking

it

with
or

a hot
metal.

or inlaying

with other

wood

Then would come

to put

the question of what pattern

stool.
is

on the top of the

Now
race

Art

is

a thing that
of

very like language.

Every race has got Art

has got
a

its

own, just as every

its

language
a

of

own,
a

and the
or

man who

decorates

stool
IT,

with

pattern

THE ELEMENTS OF CELTIC ART

design would
so,

use

the Art of his race

in

doing

as

it

would
talk

be

the

only Art

that

would
as

mean anything
he would

to him, just as,

were he speaking,
race,
it

the

language of his

would probably be the only language

knew.

that

he

On
ing

the preceding page are

this

some drawings showthe top of

(7)

how

man might have decorated

any other circular
(8) a

his stool, or

thing,
(9) a

if

he were

an Egyptian,

Chinaman,

Greek, (10) an

Indian, or (i i) an Iberian,^ and last of

an ancestor of
a
circle.
Iberian

our

all (12) how own might have decorated

is

the

name

given to the race which inhabited Western

Europe, including

this country, before the Celts

came

in.

14

CHAPTER
The
other
lines.

II

earliest

patterns

used by the Celts, among-

races,

were made
require

up
in

of

short,

straight

They

no description, as you can

Fig.
13.

see

17 varieties of

them

These are

^^
iimi^iiiiii^iiiiii^i
/3

very

easy

for

you

to

copy and make use of

of pattern

yourselves.
figure
is

The kind
in

shown
line,

in this

called chequer work, with the exception

of the

two patterns

the

last

which are
Celtic

called step patterns,

and are
best
15

really quite different

from the others.

The

work

in

Art

THE ELEMENTS OF CELTIC ART

to

was done by the people who Hved from 500 B.C. Its appearance was not always the 1000 A.D.
that period, nor were the kinds of

same throughout
Celts
treated

patterns most in favour always the same.

the
to

But the

elements of these patterns in

ways peculiar

themselves and different from

other people, which you can only learn by studying

examples of old work.

Good

Celtic

work has the following

It
is

greneral

characteristics.

always

conventional

it

never attempts to represent anything on

in

earth

natural

way and

exactly

as

that

thing

appears.

Each separate

piece of design

must be
see

in

separate panel, and the panel should have a well-

marked border round

Figs. 71

it.

You
in

will

that

in

1,

which are not

patterns
is

Celtic, there are

two or
in

more

different

each
is

circle,

while

Fig. 12, which

Celtic, there

only one.

The

pattern must be complete within the border,

and not (as in Fig. 8) cut off by it. It should fill up the whole panel, as far as the kind of pattern
used
will allow.

Besides these general characteristics there are

characteristic treatments of each different kind of

pattern,

whether

spiral,

key pattern, or interlace-

ment, which also can only be learned by studying

examples.
16

THE ELEMENTS OF CELTIC ART

Spirals.

The

oldest form of spiral

1

is

just like

the letter S, or Fig.

9,

and where a number of them

\@\g^

/4

are joined or locked together, they form a running

spiral

pattern.

Fig. 14

shows some of the early

were used
to decorate

Celtic running spirals that

sword sheaths and the

circular pattern of

the

like, and Fig. 15 shows a same period that may be

17

THE ELEMENTS OF CELTIC ART

considered as a spiral pattern.
It

may, however,
symbol,

be an

artistic

treatment
in

of a very old
Celtic

which was used largely

and other Art,

called

the Swastika.
is

The

simplest form of this

little

symbol

seen

in

the curious

cross in the

very centre of the figure.

/a

The

Christian Celts brought spiral ornament to

a higher perfection than any other race has ever

reached, notwithstanding that

i8

it

is

the

commonest

THE ELEMENTS OF CELTIC ART

motive used
Figs.
1

in

decoration up to the present day.

6 and 17 are two

good examples of

spiral

ornament from the Book of Kells. Fig. 18, which is to be seen on the Cadbol Stone, is done with
the

same pattern

as Fig. 16, but

is

made

into a square

only part of which

shown.

Key Patterns. \<J\i^n the Egyptians tried to weave a spiral, such as Fig. 19, which they were
very fond
of,

into

cloth,

it

turned out with square

corners,

like

Fig. 20, and this was the origin of

what are

called

key patterns.

The Egyptians

found they had invented a new pattern, and key

patterns formed on squares, like Figs. 20 and 23,

were used
mat,

to decorate their

temples and palaces.

But when they wove the same spiral into a grass

it

turned into a key pattern not formed on

squares, but on diamonds and equilateral triangles,

like Fig. 21.

The Chinese borrowed this

a key pattern
8.

idea,

and

you

will

see

based on diamonds

in the

background of Fig.
19

The

Celts borrowed

THE ELEMENTS OE CELTIC ART

the one based on squares, but instead of keeping-

the squares horizontal, as in Eig^s. 20

and

23, as the

^ i 1 1 m
23

i t
29
did,

Greeks and other peoples

they

they
22.

turned

the

squares diagonally, as in Eig.

But although

made many key

patterns on squares placed

diagonally, their most characteristic

and best key pat-

^^^
/^\ y^^
50

terns were

made with

these

squares divided into

two

right-angled triangles, by

/^

drawing diagonals through

them.
pattern are

Samples of the key

made

in this

way

which they
Fig. 30.

filled

in

shown in Eigs. 24-29, and some of the ways in the triangles are shown in
see that Eig.
it

You

will

24
is

is

just

the

same

as Eig.

23,

except that
of in

made

in right-

angled

triangles instead

squares,

and has

20

THE ELEMENTS OF CELTIC ART

an extra turn
to
in

the

spiral.
if

You

will

be able
cross-

draw these key patterns

you get a

ruled sheet of paper

and

lay

it

cornerwise.

Interlaced Patterns.

Next

to

the

spirals

the

most important Celtic patterns are made up of a band bent backwards and forwards, and interlaced with
itself,

so that as you follow

its

course

it

THE ELEMENTS OF CELTIC ART

goes over and under at each crossing alternately.

Never must

it

go over or under twice

is

in succession.

Generally the band

endless, as in Fig. 31 a,

and

sometimes there are two or more endless bands, as

These patterns are used for decoratingsometimes for decorating borders, when they are like those in Fig. 32, and are called
in Fig. 3
I

B.

panels,

and

plaitwork.

The

easiest

way

to design interlaced patterns

is

to use a cross-ruled sheet of

paper placed cornerI'^ig.

wise as for

key patterns.

31

represents a

piece cut out of a page of a cross-ruled exercise

book, so that the squares are placed diagonally or

cornerwise.
lines at right
will

The
in

first

thing to do

is

to

draw two
If

angles to each other, so that they

the

meet
is

middle of a square.

your

pattern
will

to consist of

one continuous band, you

of squares for the sides

have

to select a

number

and ends of your panel that will have a greatest common measure of i. Thus in a the sides are
4 squares long (two half squares and three whole
squares) and the ends are 3 squares long (two half

and two whole squares). In b, however, the sides have 4 squares each, and the ends two squares
each,
2,

and the

g.c.m.

of these

two numbers being

in

you have a pattern consisting of two bands.

having the corners of your panel

If instead of

the middle of squares, you have 22

them

at the corners

THE ELEMENTS OF CELTIC ART

THE ELEMENTS OF CELTIC ART

of squares, as in Fig.
c,

then your band

will

not be

continuous.^

The

Celts often did this

when they

wanted

to put the

heads and

tails

of beasts on the

ends of the bands, but they also often put their

tails in their

mouths

If

you
will

try to
find

you

appearance of

to make them continuous. make one of these patterns yourself, great changes can be made in the the pattern by making it with the

band broader or narrower, or by making the band black or the background black, but that the greatest change is in just how you draw the lines
and the curves. The drawings here are not intended
but only to
to

be pretty

show you

the

way they
if

are done, for

lines

the effect cannot be pretty

you draw the

with a ruler and compasses.

Figs.
D,
E,
F,

and g show

what

are

called

breaks

in

the interlacement, and you will underif

stand them

you

first

study Fig. f and know that

the dotted line shows

how

the bands would have

off,

gone
'

if

they had not been cut

bent round and

a band.
is

For purposes of calculation a discontinuous band counts as half The unit of measurement for the sides and ends of a panel from centre to centre of adjoining scjuares along the diagonal line.

If a side commences at the corner of a square instead of at the centre, a half unit is introduced, which will yield a half or discontinuous band and if it also ends at the corner of a square, another half band
;

Thus, in Fig. c the G.C.M. of the sides and ends but this unit being composed of two half units, two discontinuous bands arc created instead of one continuous one.
will

be produced.

is I,

24

THE ELEMENTS OF CELTIC ART

joined up again.

vary patterns,

like a,

These breaks are often used to b, and c. You will see that if
like

you put a break

d or e into a
if

it

would

change
band.

into a

two band pattern, and

it

you made

a break in b

would change
breaks

into

one continuous

From making

in plaitwork,
is

as

you

will

see in Fig, 32, arose what

called knotwork,

and

55
the knots derived from the various positions of the

breaks
will

in

plaits

of different

numbers of strands
the

be seen by looking carefully at the drawing.

Vine Spirals.
of design, which

In
is

the Highlands in

i6th

century and after there grew up yet another kind

beginnings of which

known as the vine spiral, the we borrowed from Eastern

this
*

Europe.

In Christian Art

idea was
the

taken
Vine,'

from the saying of Christ,

25

am

True

THE ELEMENTS OF CELTIC ART

but the pattern probably got mixed up with an old

Babylonian pattern of the Tree of

beast ouardinCT
its

Life,

with a

foot,

so althouorh the orioinal

like

pattern

was something
tail

Fig. 33A,

it

will
is

be
a

found that quite often the stem of the plant

continuation of the

of the beast, as in Figs. 331!

and
in

c.

Interlacement and twisting were also used

patterns
as
well

these

as

the spiral.

Many

forms of leaf were used, some of which are shown

in Fig. 33D.

The

leaves were not usually derived

tree,

from the leaves of any actual

imaginary,
the Celts

just as the

beasts in Celtic Art are not real beasts but purely

for

bigotry of the
literally

Mohammedans

though not believed

with the
in

obeying
can see

the second

commandment.

You

examples of vine
yards
in the

spiral patterns in

most old grave-

Highlands.

26

CHAPTER
In the foregoing
portion
I

III

have dealt with only a small

of the
Celtic

of the

art-heritage

race

in fact

only with those developments of the more

important motives which

have been

sufficiently

investigated and their systems so understood as

to render
It

them amenable

to the designer.

should here be stated that this investigation

was primarily the work of the late J. Romilly Allen, to whose memory we owe a great debt.

There
to

still

art in such

remain big masses of Celtic decorative an incomplete state of hivestigation as

leave

their

systems of construction and the

ideas underlying

them so obscure that description, understanding, and utilization of them is at present In this category may be mentioned very difficult.
the splendid flamboyant patterns of

Pagan times
of
interlaced

and the highly

Metal
cipal

complicated

class

zoomorphic patterns of the Christian period.

bronze,
and

silver,

and gold
by

was
the

the prin-

medium
were

of the

Celtic artist.

Designs on
piercing,
solid.

metal

executed

engraving,
in

embossing,
pre- Roman

by

casting
in

In

and even

Roman and

later

times

27

THE ELEMENTS OF CELTIC ART

metal -work
cJiainplevd

was

frequently
in

ornamented
colours.

with
fact

enamel

beautiful

In

the early Britons were the discoverers of the art

of enamelling- direct on to the metal,
beautiful

and many

examples of enamelled harness buckles

have been discovered.

and the

like

Perhaps the two best examples of Celtic metalwork, unexcelled by any race at any period, are,
of

Pagan

times,

the

Thames
;

Shield^

full

of joy

but

magnificently

restrained

and

of

Christian
to

times, the

Ardagh Chalice" an abandonment

joy and perfection, both of which are figured at

the beginning of this book.

The
had
its

coloured enamel work of the Pagan Celts

counterpart

in early

Christian times in the

illuminated

MSS.
is

of the Celtic Church.

Of

these

the most famous

the

Book
art

of Kells

the greatest
most wonderthe world,

storehouse
fully

of Celtic

and

the

executed
in

illuminated
artistic

MS.

in

unsurpassed

beauty by any that has

survived to the present day.

After
Celtic

having
as

mastered the simpler forms of

set forth
in

design

this

primer,

the

'

British

Museum
Irish

Bronze,
it

enamel.
"

So called because

flamboyant repousse was found in that river.

Silver, bronze,
rivets.

work

with
gold.

Royal

Academy

8th century.

and

334 different pieces excluding

Silver wire, enamel, glass,

amber and stones, and of tlie Book of Kells.

entirely covered with designs similar to those

28

THE ELEMENTS OF CELTIC ART

student should go direct to the old examples, and,
having- copied
forth

and studied
close

these, sliould then fare

on adventures of his own,

to

inventing

and

creating, but keeping

the tradition

and
it,

the spirit of the

lea7i

art,

as

the old saying has

follow

gu

dlutJi

ri

cliit

do shinnszr,

closely

the glory of your forefathers.