This is a descriptive and fully illustrated catalogue of the Celtic ornamental metalwork found in or probably originating from Britain in the Dark Ages. It brings together all the pieces known, except for certain categories published elsewhere, which one would otherwise have to seek out in a plethora of books, articles and excavation reports. A full corpus seems to be me to be just what is needed to allow the advance of the study of this aspect of Early Medieval culture, and the book should be as useful in its own field as ECMS and the British Academy's ongoing Corpus of Anglo-Saxon Stone Sculpture are in the study of stone art.

The author writes that the catalogue began as a card file some twenty years ago; he had originally wanted to expand to a full corpus of Celtic metalwork, but this intention was abandoned as several classes of artefact are fully published elsewhere. These include zoomorphic brooches and hanging bowls. The latter are merely listed and the principal publications dealing with them cited, while very well-known pieces - such as those from the St Ninian's Isle treasure - are mentioned in brief. However, the author believes the catalogue to be largely complete except for a few poor duplicate mould fragments not worth including.

The first forty pages of the book form an introduction to the catalogue, identifying the roots of Celtic art in metal, the main types represented, their chronology and so on. The small number of kinds of object which were decorated in the Insular Celtic style is striking, though this may be because of the tiny amount of ecclesiastical metalwork which has survived from Britain (in contrast to Ireland). Almost all are variations on a restricted number of artefacts, designed as personal adornment for people (and occasionally horses). Remarkable too is the apparent lack of evidence for any ornamental metalwork at all in large areas of Celtic Britain, at least after the C6th and C7th. The author goes as far as to say: "it is arguable that there was no native tradition of ornamental metalworking in Wales after the Roman period - all the 'Dark Age' metalwork fiom the principality could easily represent imports from Ireland or Scotland . ." (2). It seems that Dumnonia fared little better, while the tradition seems to have died out in southern Scotland too. It seems a little difficult to believe that this is what actually happened, but the archaeological evidence so far certainly seems to support it.

In happy contrast, the art of the Picts and Scots seems to have flourished up to the Viking period, stimulated rather than repressed by influences from Ireland and Northumbria. The glamour of the great works of the stonecarvers of Pictland and DalRiada should not blind the Pictish enthusiast to the fact that Scotland north of the Forth and Clyde (certainly on the evidence of this book) produced the great majority ofthe surviving masterpieces ofDark Age Celtic metalwork in Britain as well. I welcome the author's recognition of a style of brooch that can be definitely labelled "Diilriadic" (7-8). The identification of "national" styles, which this amateur at least is inclined to think did exist, will be greatly aided by a corpus such as this.

The catalogue itself, divided into sections by artefact type, has 263 entries, including all the more informative mould fragments, particularly important for providing exact provenances for styles of object. Every entry is illustrated by a tone drawing (except for a small number shown by old but accurate engravings). These are of variable quality, having been prepared by various volunteers. Several of the major pieces also feature in a section of plates at the end of the book. Thanks for the photo here of the complete Tummel Bridge treasure, probably the least well-known of the Pictish hoards. Each entry has a description of one artefact or mould and lists its present location, dimensions, and condition, along with the principal references to it in the literature. The book's bibliography is extensive, and useful.

In short, as an introduction to the subject of Dark Age Celtic metalwork, and a gathering together of the evidence, Lloyd Laing's book should prove itself one of the indispensable works of reference for years to come.

Niall M Robertson.