- The Nature and Function of Celtic Art - -
Figure 20.6 Detail of engraving on a bronze and iron scabbard, with remains of coral
studs, from Hallstatt Grave 994, showing rare human figures. W. 5 cm. 400-350 Be. (Photo:
J.v.S. Megaw.)
Side by side with a continuing concern for patterning runs a tendency for visual
punning. In a manner reminiscent of the oral traditions of the Old Irish and Welsh
myths, forms are not always what they seem. Reverse, for example, what at first
glance appears to be a faithful copy of a fifth-century Etruscan silen head and it
transmogrifies into a clean-shaven, perhaps female, face (Megaw 1969); what seems
a comma-like motif on closer inspection turns out to be a stylized bird's head
(Figures 20.5; 20.7). Shape-shifting in which foreground and background become
interchangeable can also be seen in the intricate and mathematically precise compass-
based ornamentation of the fifth-or fourth-century BC openwork harness mounts
produced by a number of specialized crafts-centres in eastern France or on the
incised backs of the first century Bcl AD southern British bronze mirrors.
Asymmetry is also a feature; even in those objects which at first sight appear
balanced, there are slight differences which mean that the viewer is constantly dis-
covering new details (Figure 20.8). The use of lost-wax casting, where the clay mould
has to be broken to extract the finished object and thus cannot be reused, also con-
tributed to this lack of uniformity by making each object unique.
We have stated our view that Celtic art is the visible expression of a system
of ideas, where even the most seemingly non-representational motifs may have a
precise, perhaps religious, meaning. The very absence of the complete human form or
of narrative art may indicate a taboo like that of Jewish or Moslem art on the making
of certain types of representation. Working with Aboriginal artists in central desert
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