Anglo-Saxon art

English art from the late 5th century to the 11th century. Sculpted crosses and ivories, manuscript painting, and gold and enamel jewellery survive, demonstrating a love of intricate, interwoven designs. The relics of the Sutton Hoo ship burial (7th century) and the Lindisfarne Gospels (about 690; British Museum, London) have typical Celtic ornamental patterns. In the manuscripts of southern England, in particular those produced at Winchester and Canterbury, a different style emerged in the 9th century, with delicate, lively pen‐and‐ink figures and heavily decorative foliage borders.

Anglo‐Saxon art was influenced by the Celtic arts of the native Britons, by Roman influences brought by the Christian church, and by Norse arts following the Viking invasions of the 8th century.

Metalwork
Much metalwork has survived, including bronze brooches of excellent though simple design, remarkable circular silver brooches with tracery and niello decoration, and gold and silver jewels with cloisonné inlays of garnet and lapis lazuli, and decoration of interlaced gold filigree. The famous ship burial excavated at Sutton Hoo, Suffolk, in 1939 has provided the finest examples of the Saxon goldsmiths' art yet known.

Pottery
The early Saxons produced small handmade pots, which have been found in burial sites. Pots began to be made on a wheel in the Middle Saxon period (from about 650). Pottery from this period onwards is found in settlement sites, since the spread of Christianity put an end to the inclusion of grave goods in burials. Some Late Saxon pottery (from about 850) had a green or yellow glaze. Most pots were plain, but some had simple, stamped decoration.

Glass
As with pottery, much glass from the Early Saxon period has been preserved in graves. Glass was used for jewellery, drinking vessels, and sometimes for windows, especially in churches. Fine glassware was imported from the Rhineland.

Books
Church books of a high standard were produced by the Irish illuminators. The Book of Durrow, written as early perhaps as 650, draws inspiration from the same source as the carpetlike panels of Romano‐British pavements. In Northumbria the Lindisfarne Gospels was enriched in the early 8th century under Ethelwold, bishop of Lindisfarne. Its style has been described as Hiberno‐Saxon, but the figures are often in Italian tradition, while the ornament also derives unmistakably from the Celtic applied arts. The Book of Kells and the Ardagh chalice, both made about 800, represent the Irish attainment in painting and luxury metalwork.

Sculpture
Saxon sculpture incorporates Roman, Norse, Scottish, and Irish elements. This may be seen in the inscriptions carved on standing stones and crosses, which appear in an assortment of Latin, Pictish, runic, and Irish ogam scripts. There was a great development in Northumbria in the 7th century, of which Acca's cross at Hexham and the standing crosses at Ruthwell in Dumfriesshire and at Bewcastle in Cumbria are noteworthy. In 9th‐century Mercia, sculpture was used to decorate churches, notably at Breedon‐on‐the‐Hill, Derbyshire. Other Saxon sculpture of interest includes a series of panels at Fletton, Cambridgeshire; the flying angels at Bradford‐on‐Avon, Wiltshire; and the rood at Breamore, Hampshire.

See also Celtic art;English art;Viking art.