Editing Irish art (section)

==Early Irish art==

===Up to 200 AD===
[[File:Ardagh chalice.jpg|thumb|The [[Ardagh Chalice]], c.? 750]]
Irish gold personal ornaments began to be produced within about 200 years either side of 2000 BC, especially in the thin crescent-shaped gold disks known as [[gold lunula|lunulae]], which were probably first made in Ireland, where over eighty of the around one hundred known examples were found. A range of thin decorated gold discs, bands and plaques, often with pin-holes, were probably attached to clothing, and objects that appear to be earrings have also been found.  By around 1400–1000 BC, heavier thin [[torc]]s and bangles have been found.

The Late [[Bronze Age]] of 900–600 BC saw the peak of the surviving Irish prehistoric goldsmithing, with superbly worked pieces in simple but very sophisticated designs, notably in a type of dress-fastener that looks like a double-ended trumpet curved round so that the two bell mouths are roughly pointing in the same direction. There are also a series of grand gold collars, representing a development of the lunula, with round plates at either end, and a broad corrugated U-shaped body, decorated geometrically along the ridges and troughs of the corrugations. Goldwork all but disappears in the [[Iron Age]], except for the late and enigmatic [[Broighter Hoard]] of the 1st century BC, which appears to mix local and Roman pieces.

Although Ireland tends to be strongly associated in the popular mind with [[Celtic art]], the early Continental style of [[Hallstatt culture|Hallstatt]] style never reached Ireland, and the succeeding [[La Tène style]] reached Ireland very late, perhaps from about 300 BC, and has left relatively few remains, which are often described by art historians together with their British contemporaries as "Insular Celtic".  Buried ironwork does not last long in Irish conditions, and gold is very rare, so the survivals are normally in bronze.  The [[Petrie Crown]], [[Loughnashade Trumpet]] and a series of discs whose function is mysterious are among the most striking pieces. The decoration on a number of bronze scabbards, many found in the [[River Bann]], have inspired much discussion, as they seem close to other pieces from as far away as Hungary, and the possibility of an immigrant master has been raised.  The [[National Museum of Ireland]] in [[Dublin]] holds the majority of major finds from the whole prehistoric period, with others in the [[Ulster Museum]] in Belfast and the [[British Museum]] in London.

===200 to 1150===
[[File:Muiredach s Cross.jpg|thumb|upright|left|[[Muiredach's High Cross]] at [[Monasterboice]], 10th century]]
Material from Ireland with [[La Tène art|La Tène style ornament]] from the third to fifth centuries AD is difficult to demonstrate.<ref>NMI, 134</ref> In the 6th to 8th centuries the art of the newly Christianised Irish mixed with Mediterranean and Germanic traditions through Irish missionary contacts with the [[Anglo-Saxons]], creating what is called [[Insular art]] (or the Hiberno-Saxon style) and the second and best known great period of Irish art. This is exemplified in such masterpieces as the [[Book of Kells]], the [[Ardagh Chalice]] and the [[Tara Brooch]], the most spectacular of about fifty elaborate [[Celtic brooch]]es in precious metal that have been found. 

The form of the [[illuminated manuscript]] book, new to Ireland, was taken up with enthusiam for luxury books, created in the monasteries, that were kept in the monastery church rather than the library, and were displayed to visitors who would appreciate the decorative styles that were close to those of the personal jewellery of the elite. Most were [[gospel book]]s, with the most elaborate illumination often restricted to a relatively small number of pages with the [[evangelist portrait]]s, their symbols, and abstract [[carpet page]]s.  Narrative images were very few.  

The stone [[high cross]], originally painted, was a distinctive insular type of monument, of which many examples survive. Later in the period, [[Scandinavia]]n influences were added through the [[Vikings]].

===1150 to 1550===
[[File:Domhnach Airgid.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Front of the [[Domnach Airgid]], a late 8–9th century [[book shrine]] heavily reworked after 1350]]
These earlier styles largely came to an end with the [[Norman invasion of Ireland|Norman invasion]] of 1169–1170 and the subsequent wide adoption of [[Romanesque art]]. Through the Gothic and Renaissance periods Irish art was essentially a regional variation of wider European styles, with many works imported from England or further afield, and some English artists and craftsmen active in Ireland. Many objects of a distinctively Irish form from the first millennium, such as bell or [[book shrine]] [[reliquaries]], were renovated or repaired in the contemporary style.  

The superlative standard of the best [[Early Medieval]] works is not seen, but craftsmen such as metalworkers retained a relatively high social status.  Many more signed their work than was usual in other countries in this period, but the rate of losses has been such that there is only a single metalworker whose signature is on two surviving pieces.  They seem very often to have been attached to the court of a lord, as were poets.<ref>NMI, Chapter, 7, ''Later Medieval Ireland''</ref>

A number of important literary or historical manuscripts from the period have survived, many now entirely in the [[Irish language]]; examples include the [[Book of Leinster]], which is one of several with a text of the ''[[Lebor Gabála Érenn]]'' or "Book of Invasions".  But there are no surviving manuscripts with significant illumination beyond a few decorated initials.  In contrast, the period saw a considerable development in the [[architecture of Ireland]] with several surviving churches and castles in English-influenced styles.<ref>NMI, Chapter, 7, ''Later Medieval Ireland''</ref>