Carpet page

s.

Carpet pages are wholly devoted to ornamentation with brilliant colors, active lines, and complex patterns of interlace. Some art historians find their origin in Coptic decorative book pages, and they also clearly borrow from contemporary metalwork decoration. Oriental carpets, or other textiles, may themselves have been influences. The stamped and tooled leather book binding of the Stonyhurst Gospel represents simple carpet pages in another medium, and the few surviving metalwork book covers or book shrines from the same period are also close parallels. The Hebrew Codex Cairensis, from 9th century Galilee, also contains a similar type of page, but stylistically very different.

The earliest surviving example is from the early 7th century Bobbio Orosius, and relates more closely to Late Antique decoration. There are notable carpet pages in the Book of Kells, Lindisfarne Gospels, Book of Durrow, and other manuscripts.

Further reading

* Alexander, J.J.G. A Survey of Manuscripts Illuminated in the British Isles: Volume One: Insular Manuscripts from the 6th to the 9th Century. London England: Harvey Miller. 1978.
* Brown, Michelle P. Understanding Illuminated Manuscripts: A Guide to Technical Terms. Malibu, California: The J. Paul Getty Museum. 1994.
* Laing, Lloyd and Jennifer. Art of the Celts: From 700 BC to the Celtic Revival. Singapore: Thames and Hudson. 1992.
* Megaw, Ruth and Vincent. Celtic Art: From its Beginnings to the Book of Kells. New York: Thames and Hudson. 2001.
* Nordenfalk, Carl. Celtic and Anglo-Saxon Painting: Book Illumination in the British Isles. 600-800. New York: George Braziller Publishing. 1977.
* Pacht, Otto. Book Illumination in the Middle Ages. England: Harvey Miller Publishers. 1984.