The production of this large and well-illustrated account of early Anglo-Saxon art by Pollington, Kerr and Hammond is a welcome addition to the popular outputs of Anglo-Saxon Books. It represents a volume that is likely to stimulate interest among non-specialist audiences through its accessible treatment of the complex and much researched subject area of early Anglo-Saxon art.

The volume summarizes existing scholarship in a thematically structured account, synthesizing current archaeological, historical and literary evidence for production, function, role and meaning. The volume is organized around five sections, covering: the style and evolution of early Anglo-Saxon artistic repertoires (I and II); metalworking and smiths (III); a discussion on the artefacts by type – metallic and non-metallic (IV); and a final lengthy section that engages with the meaning of symbolic display, mythology and the interpretation of design and compositional elements (V). This thematic treatment of the topic allows for the detailed synthesis of knowledge on the artefacts themselves to be set against more wide-ranging discussions. These focus on meaning and interpretation, covering such themes such as the magical role of art, production and distribution, and the wider social and political contexts for the creation and use of these artistic repertoires in the fourth to seventh centuries.

Much of the archaeological and art-historical evidence presented comprises a synthesis of current knowledge. It is valuable, however, to have the integration of literary and documentary evidence alongside this. This approach works well, for example, in thematic discussions, such as section III on ‘Crafty Smiths’. Here, metalworking vocabulary is set alongside literary and documentary accounts and legal evidence relating to high-status metalworking and the excavated evidence from England and the continent for the graves of metalworkers or smiths; the portrayal of smiths in Old English and Old Norse literature; and the evidence for workshops and for moneyers. This cross-disciplinary synthesis of past and current research and evidence provides a highly readable account of the context of high-status metalworking in early Anglo-Saxon society for the general reader.

The volume is referenced throughout, but the bibliography is not comprehensive. The book offers a selective treatment of past and current scholarship and there are absences: one might have expected, for example, to have seen references to some recent crucial contributions to the debates on art, objects and early medieval burials such as Chris Fern's work on horse imagery and symbolism (2005 and 2007), Victoria Thompson on ‘wyrm’ imagery (2004) and Nick Stoodley on gender and costume and dress (1999). The volume also has a tendency to rely on general texts and popular or synthetic articles, when other more detailed publications could have been cited. This said, it is clear the book is not meant to be comprehensive – indeed, it serves its purposes as a general and accessible introduction. It explores object and artefact types, the meaning of artistic ornament and style and seeks to set the production, use distribution and the artefacts themselves within the context of early Anglo-Saxon society. The authors look towards Scandinavia and the continent throughout the volume, but are less inclined to investigate the art of the west and north and the legacy of early Anglo-Saxon art beyond the early seventh century. The inclusion of the Staffordshire Hoard within the volume and its discussion is welcome, but might perhaps have been better left until research on this extraordinary find has been more thorough and wide ranging.

Pollington and his fellow authors have produced a volume that will appeal to the general reader. The combination of line drawings, large colour images and reconstructions amply illustrates the discussions, although several of the larger colour images, such as plates 59 and 60, have not reproduced well. The use of reconstructions of objects and costumes adds a visual dimension to the volume that will no doubt serve to popularize the art of this era further and engage new audiences with both the artefactual legacy of the period and some of the key themes relating to the function, role and production of early Anglo-Saxon art.

Fern, C 2005. ‘The archaeological evidence for equestrianism in early Anglo-Saxon England, c. 450–700', in Just Skin and Bones? New Perspectives on Human–Animal Relations in the Historical Past (ed A Pluskowski), 41–71, BAR Int Ser S1410, Oxford: Archaeopress

Fern, C 2007. ‘Early Anglo-Saxon horse burial of the fifth to seventh centuries AD’, Anglo-Saxon Stud Archaeol Hist, 14, 92–109

Stoodley, N 1999. The Spindle and the Spear: a critical enquiry into the construction and meaning of gender in the early Anglo-Saxon burial rite, BAR Brit Ser 288, Oxford: British Archaeological Reports

Thompson, V 2004. Dying and Death in Later Anglo-Saxon England, Woodbridge: Boydell