Celtic Engagement Rings



Posted: Monday, January 15, 2007

by
Shanore

Celtic jewelry today is one of the niche jewelry styles that is enjoying a renaissance. So who were the Celts and where do the jewelry designs come from?

The Celts were a group of people first originating in Germany and eastern France in the 2 nd millennium BC; however they can be traced back as far as India . They spread throughout Europe and for a long time occupied the territory of Gaul which is roughly the modern territory of France and Belgium . They were extinguished by the Romans and currently Celtic culture remains only in Ireland , Scotland , Brittany , Wales , Cornwall in England and North Spain .

The jewelry designs that are produced today largely come from ancient Celtic art. There were several rich periods that have produced many works of art. The Hiberno - Saxon style flourished in the 7 th and 8 th century producing the Tara Broach, the Ardagh Chalice and the Derrynaflan Chalice. The introduction of the filigree style, interlace patterns and animal ornamentation resulted in the book of Durrow , the Lindisfarne Gospels and also the Book of Kells. Silver was popular in the 9 th and 10 th century producing many fine Celtic brooches and finally sculpture and crosses were popular in the 9 th and 10 th century.

The following Celtic designs and Celtic symbols make up the backbone of Celtic art.

Knotwork, borders and panels.-Interlacing knotwork patterns with their unbroken lines, symbolise mans eternal spirit. Often they were used to interlace limbs and bodies of humans, birds and reptiles.

Spirals-It represents eternal life. The circle may be considered as man’s first step in art.

Key patterns -Key patterns could be described as spirals in straight lines repeated to form a pattern.

Celtic Engagement Rings draw their designs from the ancient celtic art patterns. The Trinity knot is particularly popular on Celtic engagement rings. It appears as 3 oval shapes interlaced so that there is no beginning and no end. Its ancient representation was body, mind and sole. Its Christian representation is father, son and Holy Spirit and the more popular modern meaning is ‘ never ending love’.



This Article has been viewed 196 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
No comments yet.
We want your comments! If you can read this, you don't have javascript enabled, so you can't use this comment system. Please enable javascript.