Beyond the Fringe: Transfer-Printed Ceramics and the Internationalization of Celtic Myth

During the Romantic period of the nineteenth century, a wholesale invention of cultural myth and tradition took place in what we now think of as the industrialized West. One of the more interesting aspects of this invention of tradition was the development of the mythic Celtic past in Western Europe, particularly Scotland and Wales. This reinvention of the past is reflected in aspects of material culture, including contemporary transfer-print patterns, many of which contain scenes based on the themes of the mythic past. This paper surveys some of the more common Scottish- and Welsh-related patterns and attempts to place them in their appropriate cultural and historical context as well as demonstrating how they reflect certain cultural trends of the period. Some of the broader issues and implications surrounding these patterns, especially regarding their use as a vehicle for disseminating an ideological perspective internationally, are also examined.