Merchandise Inspired by Celtic Illuminated Manuscripts

Celtic imagery found in medieval illuminated manuscripts such as the Book of Kells has long been revered for its beautiful complexity since the time of its creation. The style of imagery represented by the Celtic heritage has influenced many aspects of today's modern-day materialistic and aesthetic world.

The influence of the typography styles, most noteably the large, decorative capitals found in the Book of Kells (and other medieval illustrated manuscripts), inspired the typography found on this birthday card. I thought this was an interesting combination of our modern culture and Celtic medieval style.

Celtic knots found in the Book of Kells are seen in these examples of do-it-yourself embroidery crafts. I think it's kind-of funny that the artwork in which Celtic monks put so much dedication and attention are being translated into needle-point novelties--not that there's anything wrong with needlepoint or embroidery. This example of the keychain that can be purchased, is another interesting meeting of our modern world and that of the medieval world. In our world, a keychain is a cheap way for someone to represent their style and/or acts as the typical souvenier (for the average traveler) in our mass-marketing economy. In this day and age, everyone has a keychain that looks like this one; the only thing that differs between everyone's keychains is the picture inside the plastic case of each. My point is, this picture perfectly represents the marriage of our society and that of the Celtic culture. And what better way to show of one's Celtic knot than hanging from one's keys?

This is another example of an embroidery project that references artwork from medieval illuminated manuscripts. The flat treatment of the figures and the use of patterning to fill in the shapes reminds me of the illustration of St. Matthew in the Book of Durrow. The layout of these four figures also reminds me of illustrations that seem to be common to many manuscripts where the four gospels are represented together, each filling a different quadrant of the page.

This last example is another example of today's the aesthetic and materialistic interpretation and application of the Celtic style of illustration. The imagery depicted on the rug seen at left, mimicks the interwoven characteristic of Celtic representations of animals in much of the decoration found in illuminated manuscripts.












picture info:
http://www.celticstitchery.com/Celtic/HillcroftCeltic.htm
http://celtichomeandhearth.com/plugins/MivaMerchants/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=CHH&Category_Code=CDCR