File:The arts in early England (1903) (14598106549).jpg

Identifier: artsinearlyengla03brow (find matches)
Title: The arts in early England
Year: 1903 (1900s)
Authors: Brown, G. Baldwin (Gerard Baldwin), 1849-1932 Webster, A. Blyth (Adam Blyth), 1882-1956 Sexton, Eric H. L. (Eric Hyde Lord), 1902-1980
Subjects: Art Architecture Architecture, Medieval Church architecture Crosses Decoration and ornament, Celtic Inscriptions, Runic
Publisher: London, J. Murray
Contributing Library: Wellesley College Library
Digitizing Sponsor: Boston Library Consortium Member Libraries

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viii is one of the applied fibulae fromKempston, Beds, and has a band of animal ornament sur-rounding a central medallion marked out into eight spaces bywhat looks like a Maltese cross but has probably no Christiansignificance (p. 117 f.). On the band we should say at firstsight was a play of interlacing triple ribbons1 but the impres-sion would be erroneous. Conspicuous above and slightly tothe left is a bent leg with its claws. The three strands belowthis mark its junction with the body, and they do not as itmight appear plunge under the forms next to them. Thestrands which partly surround the dots that indicate eyes donot go on any further but just represent the brows, and other 1 These ribbons are really degenerate versions of a form bounded oneach side by contour lines, upon which Dr. Salins book, p. 242, maybe con-sulted. The middle part of the body between the contour lines has shrunkto a similar line making a third with the other two. LXVIII facing p. 341 LATER ANIMAL ORNAMENT
Text Appearing After Image:
1, 3, 4, slightly reduced ,• 7, 9, somewhat enlarged LATE ANIMAL ORNAMENT 341 ribbons that come between the feet and the eyes stand in eachcase by themselves for a creatures body. The only two dis-tinctive parts of the animal that can here be identified are thelegs and the eyes, and it is curious to find these features surviv-ing when all else has become an unintelligible medley of lines.On this piece in the triangular spaces between the arms of thecross are legs pure and simple, and the leg by itself becomesa familiar motive in the later examples of this style, while theappearance of a round dot standing for an eye in unintelligiblesurroundings means the survival of this one feature in theshipwreck of a creatures anatomy. These dots occur on theKingston fibula, see Frontispiece, in the panels which other-wise seem to be filled only with meaningless filigree. Legsby themselves as ornamental motives may be illustrated byPI. lxviii, 3, a saucer brooch from Filkins, Oxfordshire, i-; in

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