Celtic knotwork is famous for its closed, continuous, looping structure, in which the strands of the design pass over and under one another in patterns that seem to have no start and no finish. The unbroken quality of the interlace is one of its most striking features and one of the things that distinguishes it from most other ornamental traditions. As part of the wider tradition of Celtic knotwork and symbolism the closed knot has been read in many ways, as a symbol of eternity, of the unity of creation, of the immortality of the soul, and of the Christian eternity of God. The actual history of the form is more complicated than any of these readings, and it can be traced through the development of the Hallstatt and La Tène art styles, the late Roman and Coptic interlace traditions, and the great flowering of insular art in the monasteries of Ireland and Northumbria, set within the broader Celtic art and craftsmanship tradition.
The Closed Form in the La Tène Tradition
The closed, looping quality of Celtic design is already present in the La Tène tradition of the fourth and third centuries BCE. The plant-scroll of the middle La Tène period, with its symmetrical tendrils, its trumpet shapes, and its curling palmettes, often closes in on itself in a way that gives the impression of an unbroken circuit. The great sword scabbards of the middle La Tène period, including the Bermatingen scabbard from Lake Constance and the Weiskirchen scabbard from Saarland, show designs in which the tendrils fold back on themselves in a continuous ribbon of ornament.
The closed form in La Tène art is partly a matter of technique. The Celtic smith and the Celtic carver, working in sheet metal or in low relief, found it easier and more natural to develop a design outward from a central axis and to allow the tendrils to return to a starting point, rather than to develop an open-ended linear composition that would require framing devices or terminating motifs. The closed form is also a matter of composition, since the symmetry and balance of La Tène design is best achieved when the design can be read in two directions and from any point on its circumference. The closed form is, in short, an aesthetic solution to a problem of design, and it became one of the defining features of the Celtic visual language.
The Coptic and Late Roman Background
When the great flowering of insular interlace took place in the eighth and ninth centuries, the Celtic and Anglo-Saxon artists of the British Isles were drawing on a tradition of closed, looping ornament that had been developing across the late Roman world. The Coptic tradition of Egypt, in particular, had developed a wide range of plaited and woven designs on textiles, on stone relief, and on metalwork, and many of these designs were brought to the British Isles through the medium of late Roman and early Christian art.
The late Roman tradition also produced closed, looping designs in the form of floor mosaics, manuscript initials, and carved stone relief. The Christian symbolism of the closed form, with its associations of eternity, of the resurrection, and of the unending love of God, was developed in the patristic and early medieval theological tradition, and the visual tradition absorbed the symbolism. When Irish and Northumbrian artists began to develop the great insular interlace of the seventh and eighth centuries, they were working in a tradition that already associated closed, looping ornament with the deepest religious ideas.
The Insular Interlace of the Seventh to Ninth Centuries
The great insular interlace of the manuscripts and high crosses of the seventh to ninth centuries represents the most elaborate development of the closed, looping form in the history of European art. The Book of Durrow, the Lindisfarne Gospels, the Book of Kells, and the Echternach Gospels all contain interlace patterns of extraordinary complexity, in which dozens of strands are woven together in patterns that can take a master craftsman weeks to design and execute.
The closed, looping structure of insular interlace was not merely a matter of visual effect. The very effort required to design and execute these patterns gave them a meditative and devotional quality that was well suited to their use in the great Gospel books and on the high crosses. The discipline of drawing an unbroken interlace, in which the strands pass over and under one another in a precise and unvarying sequence, was understood as a form of spiritual exercise, and the finished interlace was a kind of visual prayer.
The most elaborate insular interlace patterns were often drawn on a grid, with the designer plotting the path of each strand through a prearranged pattern of cells, and then working out the over-and-under sequence that would give the design its three-dimensional quality. The closed form was essential to this method, since the design had to return to its starting point in order for the grid to work. The closed form was thus a practical as well as a symbolic choice, and the technical and the religious dimensions of the design reinforced one another.
The Religious Symbolism of the Closed Form
The closed form of Celtic knotwork was, then, not merely an aesthetic choice but a religious one. The unbroken circle of the knot was a natural symbol of eternity, of the immortality of the soul, and of the unending nature of God. The early medieval Irish and Anglo-Saxon writers explicitly associated the closed form with the Christian eternity, and several surviving texts draw the comparison between the unbroken knot and the unbroken love of God for creation.
The closed form was also understood as a symbol of the unity and the interconnectedness of the created order. The strands of the interlace, passing over and under one another in an unbroken sequence, were read as a representation of the way in which all parts of creation are bound up with one another, and the impossibility of finding a beginning or an end in the design was read as a sign of the impossibility of finding a first cause or a final end in the created order. This reading is found in several early medieval commentaries on the Book of Kells, and it was developed in the later medieval and modern Celtic revival traditions.
The Survival of the Closed Form in the Modern Revival
The closed, looping form of Celtic knotwork has been a defining feature of the modern Celtic revival, from the eighteenth-century antiquarian interest in the Book of Kells to the nineteenth-century work of the Arts and Crafts designers and the twentieth-century popularisation of Celtic design. The unbroken knot is now one of the most recognisable elements of the visual language of Celtic identity, and it is used in everything from tattoos and jewellery to corporate logos and ecclesiastical decoration.
The modern reading of the closed form is often more metaphysical than the medieval reading. The popular idea that the unbroken knot represents the eternal soul, the cycles of nature, or the interconnectedness of all things is largely a modern construction, drawing on a mixture of Christian, neo-pagan, and romantic ideas. The actual medieval evidence for these readings is limited, and the ancient Celtic evidence is even more so. Yet the modern readings are themselves a chapter in the long history of the form, and the continuing power of the closed, looping knot striking examples of the survival of the Celtic art and craftsmanship tradition today.
Related Topics
- The Celtic knotwork and symbolism tradition of which the closed knot distinctive features.
- The Hallstatt and La Tène art styles that developed the early looping and tendril forms from which insular interlace descends.
- The Celtic metalwork and jewelry in which the closed form appears in the shape of torcs, bracelets, and ring-headed pins.
- The Celtic stone carving and high crosses of the early medieval period that carry the closed interlace form in monumental carved ornament.
- The broader Celtic art and craftsmanship tradition in which the closed knot is one of the most enduring features.