K is for Book of Kells

Hello everyone, better late than never; here is my ‘K’ tag:

  

 The Book of Kells is the richest illuminated manuscript version of the Gospels in the Celto-Saxon style that still survives.  It was the obvious choice for my K tag!  On this square tag I used a corner border motif on two sides. I coloured it in using blue, green red brown and gold.  In the space remaining I wrote ‘The Book of Kells using Celtic uncials similar to those used in the original manuscript.  I included a Celtic knot in the illuminated ‘K’  I also coloured some of the counters and spaces around the letters

The corner border is composed of a gold knotwork design interwoven with birds.   The Book of Kells is full of symbolism.  Birds travel freely between heaven and earth. In the Book of Kells, the long beaked waterbird, crane, cormorant or heron also appear. These are birds of two worlds, air and water. The Celts had always held birds sacred as messengers of the supernatural realm.

Having used a quill for my ‘Q’ tag I can really appreciate the labour and penmanship that went into these manuscripts.

Will get up to date with ‘L’ next week!

Love Jane xx