On the Layout and Ornamentation of the Cross-Carpet Page of the Lindisfarne Gospels, Folio 138v

The composition of the cross-carpet page on folio 138v of the Lindisfarne Gospels can be analyzed correctly only in terms of the large forms and ornamental details, and the way they are related and interract. An underlying diagonal grid forms the structural basis for the large designs as well as such ornamental motifs as key patterns, interlace, and ribbon beasts. Only the ornamentation of the central panel depends on a different system altogether, of swirling circular forms related to those of the fantastic birds in the finials. The largest and smallest forms are inextricably united in a single compositional fabric, bewilderingly complex, but based fundamentally on a geometrically simple system of proportions.