INHIBITED VINE
This panel is based upon a design from the book of kells, considered by many to be the most spendid of all illuminated manuscripts. Work on the book is thought to have started in the monastry of Iona, off the west coast of Scotland, whose monks fled from the Vikings to Ireland in 807AD. The manuscript is believed to have been completed in the monastry of Kells in Ireland and is now kept at Trinity College in Dublin. The design consists of 4 beasts, 8 birds, 4 reptiles and 4 plants bearing leaves and fruit. The "inhibited vine" is a common motif of early christian art, although this example is the only complete form of it to be found in the book of kells.
This particular plaque measures 12cm in diameter