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A carpet page is a full page in an illuminated manuscript containing intricate, figurative art, patterned designs.Moss, 57 They are a characteristic feature of Insular art manuscripts, and typically placed at the beginning of a Gospel Book. Carpet pages are characterised by mainly geometrical ornamentation which may include repeated animal forms. They are distinct from pages devoted to highly decorated historiated initials, though the style of decoration may be very similar.Calkins, 36-37
Carpet pages are characterised by ornamentation with brilliant colors, active lines and complex patterns of interlace. They are normally symmetrical, or very nearly so, about both a horizontal and vertical axis, though for example the pictured page from the Lindisfarne Gospels is only symmetrical about a vertical axis. Some art historians find their origin in similar decorative book pages,Calkins, 53 and they also clearly borrow from contemporary metalwork decoration. Oriental carpets, or other textiles, may themselves have been influences. The tooled leather book binding of the St Cuthbert Gospel represents a simple carpet page in another medium,Calkins, 53 and the few surviving – metalwork book covers or – from the same period, such as that on the Lindau Gospels, are also close parallels.Calkins, 57-60 Roman floor seen in post-Roman Britain, are also cited as a possible source.Calkins, 53 The Hebrew Codex Cairensis, from 9th century Galilee, also contains a similar type of page, but stylistically very different.
Carpet pages are also found in some medieval Hebrew manuscripts, typically opening the major sections of the book. Islamic manuscripts, especially Qur'ans, often have pages entirely devoted to complex geometrical decoration, but the term is not usually used of them.
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