Carpet page

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A carpet page from the Lindisfarne Gospels

A carpet page is a full page in an illuminated manuscript containing intricate, non-figurative, patterned designs.[1] They are a characteristic feature of Insular manuscripts, and typically placed at the beginning of a Gospel Book. Carpet pages are characterised by mainly geometrical ornamentation which may include repeated animal forms. They are distinct from pages devoted to highly decorated historiated initials, though the style of decoration may be very similar.[2]

Carpet pages are characterised by ornamentation with brilliant colors, active lines and complex patterns of

Hebrew Codex Cairensis, from 9th century Galilee
, also contains a similar type of page, but stylistically very different.

Examples

The earliest surviving example is from the early 7th-century

Late Antique decoration. There are notable carpet pages in the Book of Kells, the Lindisfarne Gospels, the Book of Durrow, and other manuscripts.[7]

Carpet pages are also found in some medieval

Qur'ans
, often have pages entirely devoted to complex geometrical decoration, but the term is not usually used of them.

Gallery

References

Notes

  1. ^ Moss, 57
  2. ^ Calkins, 36-37
  3. ^ Calkins, 53
  4. ^ Calkins, 53
  5. ^ Calkins, 57-60
  6. ^ Calkins, 53
  7. ^ Calkins, 36-37, 46-62

Sources

  • Calkins, Robert G. Illuminated Books of the Middle Ages. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1983.
  • ISBN 978-0-5002-9460-4

Further reading

External links
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