Neighbors and contemporaries of the Greeks, Etruscans, and Romans, the Celts received inspiration from these advanced civlizations, which set their own creativity in motion. The distinctive Celtic style of art was born, with ornament as its outstanding feature. Naturalistic depiction was never its goal. On the contrary, plants and living creatures were dissected into their individual components and reassembled, were concealed and hidden, distorted and defamiliarized. This book explains the archaeological and historic context of each period, in order to obtain a better understanding of the development and significance of Celtic art and craftsmanship. The catalog contains forty "masterpeices", all outstanding examples illustrating the development of Celtic art. Finally, "101 motifs" demonstrate the varied links within Celtic ornament over the course of time and across Europe.--Cover.