In thevisual arts,interlace is a decorative element found inmedieval art. In interlace, bands or portions of othermotifs are looped,braided, andknotted in complexgeometric patterns, often to fill a space. Interlacing is common in theMigration period art ofNorthern Europe, in the early medievalInsular art of Britain and Ireland, andNorse art of theEarly Middle Ages, and inIslamic art.
Intricate braided and interlaced patterns, calledplaits in British usage, first appeared in late Roman art in various parts of Europe, inmosaic floors and other media.Coptic manuscripts and textiles of 5th- and 6th-century Christian Egypt are decorated with broad-strand ribbon interlace ornament bearing a "striking resemblance" to the earliest types of knotwork found in theInsular art manuscripts of Ireland and theBritish Isles.[1]
Interlace is a key feature of the "Style II"animal style decoration of Migration Period art, and is found widely across Northern Europe, and was carried by theLombards into Northern Italy. Typically the long "ribbons" eventually terminate in an animal's head. By about 700 it becomes less common in most of Europe, but continues to develop in the British Isles andScandinavia, where it is found on metalwork, woodcarving,runestones,high crosses, andilluminated manuscripts of the 7th to 12th centuries. ArtistGeorge Bain has characterised the early Insular knotwork found in the 7th-centuryBook of Durrow and theDurham CathedralGospel Book fragment as "broken and rejoined" braids.[2] Whether Coptic braid patterns were transmitted directly toHiberno-Scottishmonasteries from the easternMediterranean or came viaLombardic Italy is uncertain.[1] Art historianJames Johnson Sweeney argued for direct communication between thescriptoria ofEarly Christian Ireland and the Coptic monasteries of Egypt.[3]
This new style featured elongated beasts intertwined into symmetrical shapes, and can be dated to the mid-7th century based on the accepted dating of examples in theSutton Hoo treasure.[1] The most elaborate interlacedzoomorphics occur inViking Age art of theUrnes style (arising before 1050), where tendrils of foliate designs intertwine with the stylized animals.[4]
The full-flowering of Northern European interlace occurred in theInsular art of the British Isles, where the animal style ornament of Northern Europe blended with ribbon knotwork and Christian influences in such works as theBook of Kells and theCross of Cong.[1] Wholecarpet pages were illuminated with abstract patterns, including much use of interlace, and stonehigh crosses combined interlace panels with figurative ones. Insular interlace was copied in continental Europe, closely in theFranco-Saxon school of the 8th to 11th centuries, and less so in otherCarolingian schools of illumination, where the tendency was tofoliate decorative forms. InRomanesque art these became typical, and the interlace generally much less complex. Some animal forms are also found.
Geometric interlacing patterns are common in Islamic ornament. They can be considered a particular type ofarabesque.Umayyad architectural elements such as floormosaics, window grilles, carvings and wall paintings, and decorative metal work of the 8th to 10th centuries are followed by the intricate interlacings common in later medievalIslamic art. Interlaced elaborations are also found inKuficcalligraphy.
Interlace and knotwork are often found inByzantine art, continuing Roman usage, but they are not given great prominence. One notable example of a widespread local usage of interlace is thethree-ribbon interlace found in theearlymedieval Croatia on stone carvings from the 9th to 11th centuries.
Interlaces were widely used in times of SerbianMorava architectural school from the 14th to 15th century. They were used on and within churches and monasteries, as well as in religious literature.[5]
Interlaces are also an important ornament used inBrâncovenesc architecture, anarchitectural style that evolved inRomania during the administration of PrinceConstantin Brâncoveanu in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. Later, in the late 19th century and the first half of the 20th, it will be reused inRomanian Revival architecture.
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![Byzantine interlaces on the cover of the Melisende Psalter, 1131-1143, ivory, British Library [6]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aEgerton_ms_1139%211_fse005r.jpg)
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![Romanian Revival interlaces on a corbel of Strada Vasile Lascăr no. 76, Bucharest, by Ștefan Ciocârlan, 1925[7]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3a76_Strada_Vasile_Lasc%25C4%2583r%2c_Bucharest_(09).jpg)
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