Animals In Art

Animal style art, is characterized by its emphasis on animal and bird themes, and the term describes an approach to decoration which existed from China to Northern Europe in the early Iron Age, and the barbarian art of the Migrations Period. It is a zoomorphic style of decoration, and the Animal Style was used to decorate small objects by warrior-herdsmen, whose economy was based entirely on animals and plunder.
Animal style was one component, along with Celtic art and late classical elements, in the formation of style of Insular art and Anglo-Saxon art in the British Isles, and through these routes and others on the Continent, left a considerable legacy in later Medieval art.