"This book is a reconsideration of a phase of Anglo-Saxon art of the sixth and seventh centuries AD, characterized by distinctive ornament and known to archaeologists and art historians as Salin's Style II. The chief characteristic of this ornament is animal interlacing. There is a very real danger, however, in writing about Anglo-Saxon animal art of falling between two stools. On one stool sits the archaeologist and on the other the art historian. I have attempted to place a foot on each stool and achieve some sort of balance. ... A few words need to be said about the material itself and of my approach to it. ... With the exception of some ornamental details of manuscripts and some stone carving we are studying almost exclusively the art of the jewller and metalworker. ... To approach Style II as a formal style historian, or as an archaeologist concerned only with typological sequences... is to miss much of what Style II can perhaps tell us of its creators, of their technical skills and of their beliefs and superstitions. I have included, therefore, a chapter which discusses the iconography of Style II animal ornament." - introduction

Originally presented as the author's thesis, Oxford, 1974.

114 p., 32 p. of plates, 34 p. of figures, bibliography, index.

Language: English

ISBN: 0-19-813194-1; LCCN: 79-41091; LC: NK1443.S65; DDC: 704.94'32'0942