Lindisfarne Carpet Pages

They are pages of mainly geometrical ornamentation which may include repeated animal forms typically placed at the beginning of each of the four gospels in gospel books.

Lindisfarne carpet pages.

Carpet pages like this one are characterized by geometric and colourful designs that take up an entire page as here. It was made in the late 7th or early 8th centuries at lindisfarne a monastery in the north of england that was founded by irish missionaries and held control over a vast network of smaller monasteries in the region. An exhibition held at the british library 16th may to 28th september 2003. Matthew mark luke and john the writers of the original gospel books.

Additional religious imagery can be found in the pictures of each of the four evangelists. The lindisfarne gospels is a manuscript that contains the gospels of the four evangelists mark john luke and matthew. The copying and decoration of the lindisfarne gospels represent a remarkable artistic achievement. Lindisfarne gospels john cross carpet page f 210v british library the book is a spectacular example of insular or hiberno saxon art works produced in the british isles between 500 900 c e a time of devastating invasions and political upheavals.

The lindisfarne gospels begins with a carpet page in the form of a cross and a major initial page introducing the letter of st. Carpet page posted on december 14 2015 by mrsbowman1 cross and carpet page for st. There are sixteen pages of arcaded canon tables where parallel passages of the four evangelists are laid out. The book includes five highly elaborate full page carpet pages so called because of their resemblance to carpets from the eastern mediterranean.

Insular cross carpet pages were inspired by contemporary metalwork and oriental rugs. Lindisfarne gospels cross carpet page. Four of the carpet pages appear alongside incipit pages that mark the beginning of each gospel. Similar pages can be found in coptic christian manuscripts and it is possible that this decorative tradition came to ireland with monks who came from or spent time in egypt.

Matthew folio 26 verso of the lindisfarne gospels from northumbria england c. Jerome and pope damasus i. The carpet pages of the lindisfarne gospels. The world of the lindisfarne gospels.

The cross carpet pages are not the sole examples of christian iconography in the lindisfarne gospels.