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CELTIC TRIQUETRA KNOT WORK- Earrings- Sterling Silver

CELTIC TRIQUETRA KNOT WORK- Earrings- Sterling Silver

Description

A beautiful Triquetra knot-work image from the Lindisfarne Gospels.

These knot work earrings are shipped attached to an attractive Display Card.

Size: 3/4inch/1.9cm in diameter
Ear Wire: Sterling Silver

The Lindisfarne Gospels is an illuminated Latin manuscript of the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The manuscript was produced on Lindisfarne in Northumbria in the late 7th century or early 8th century, and is generally regarded as the finest example of the kingdom's unique style of religious art, a style that combined Anglo-Saxon and Celtic themes, what is now called Hiberno-Saxon art, or Insular art. The manuscript is complete (though lacking its original cover), and is astonishingly well-preserved considering its great age.

Historical use of the Triquetra image:

Germanic paganism-
The triquetra has been found on runestones in Northern Europe and on early Germanic coins. It presumably had pagan religious meaning and it bears a resemblance to the Valknut, a symbol associated with Odin.

Celtic art-
The triquetra is often found in Insular art, most notably metal work and in illuminated manuscripts like the Book of Kells. The fact that the triquetra very rarely stood alone in medieval Celtic has cast a reasonable doubt on its use as a symbol in context where it was used primarily as a space filler or ornament in much more complex compositions. But Celtic art lives on as both a living folk art tradition and through several revivals. This widely recognized knot has been used in for the past two centuries a sign of special things and persons that are threefold, such as Mother, Daughter and Grandmother - Past, Present and Future -and especially the Holy Trinity, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. [1]

Christian use-
The symbol was later used by Christians as a symbol of the Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit). This appropriation was particularly easy because the triquetra conveniently incorporated three shapes that could be interpreted as Christian Ιχθυς symbols.

A common representation of the symbol is with a circle that goes through the three interconnected loops of the Triquetra. The circle emphasizes the unity of the whole combination of the three elements.

Added on Nov 18, 2009