Above : Example of Irish’s Metal Work

The art of working in metal attained its highest excellence in the period from the ninth to the twelfth century. The designs employed are similar to those used in the illumination of manuscripts, and while we find that the artists sometimes followed foreign models, they un­doubtedly achieved their best work in the examples which we still possess that are Irish both in form and design. The best work in stone-carving appears to have been done about the tenth centurv, as the Annalists do not refer to the High Crow** until that time. The builder’s art in Ireland reached its perfection about the twelfth century, when from very rude and simple buildings there was developed the beautiful style of arclutectura known as the Irish Ilonianesque.

The first art, that of the scribe, was carried to a state of perfection in Christian Ireland that has never been surpassed. Writing was one of the most important occupations of the Irish monks. They had to supply the numerous churches which sprang into existence with books for the various religious services, and they bestowed great labour on the ornamentation of the sacred writings, which are wonderful monuments of their concep­tions, skill, and patience. The symmetry of their hand-writing is remarkable, and the shading and tinting of the letters is managed with the greatest skill and taste. A distinguished German critic, Ferdinand Keller, states that there is not a single letter of the entire alphabet which does not give evidence, both in its general form and its minuter parts, of the sound judgment and taste of the pen­man. The art of illumination originated in Byzantium, and penetrated through the North of Italy to Gaul and Ireland. In the ancient literature of Ireland there are to be met with fragments that appear to be translations from certain versions of the rules, and manuals, which the Byzantine artists drew up for the guidance of their disciples. Though the Irish scribes did not originate this art, they made it characteristically their own, and brought it to a much higher grade of perfection than it reached in Byzantium, Italy, or Gaul. They combined the Byzantine interlacings with the native de­signs, producing new and varied patterns, and developing novel and intricate forms of great beauty and symmetry. Their work is now known as the ‘ Opus Hibernicum,’ and splendid specimens of it are found in Ireland itself, and in the Con­tinental libraries. One of the finest specimens that have been preserved for us is the Book of Kells, a vellum manuscript of the Four Gospels in Latin dating from the seventh or eighth century, and, probably, the most beautiful book ever written. Miss Margaret Stokes says of it: " No effort hitherto made to transcribe any one page has the perfection of execution and rich harmony of colour which belongs to this wonderful book … as with the skeleton of a leaf or with any microscopic work of nature, the stronger the magnifying power brought to bear upon it the more is this perfection revealed." Professor Westwood of Oxford described it as the most astonishing book of the Four Gospels that exists in the world. " I know," he writes, " pretty well all the libraries in Europe, where such books as this occur, but there is no such book in any of them . . . there is nothing like it in all the books which were written for Charlemagne and his immediate successors."