Certainly, examples as in the Book of Kells present such a gleeful and unselfconscious blurring of the dividing line between the Christian world and the slowly fading pagan world. The book is incomplete. It is missing several pages either from getting loose or from thievery. The book does not have any gold decoration but a generous use of yellow makes up for the lack of gold. Some other colors in the book are red, black, purple and indigo.
Decorated initials are a very common feature of the book.
Many of the letters fit into the shape of animals. The designs in the book have an almost perfect symmetry. The books are bound and sewn by hand, following a medieval process that requires great skill. Not very much. No records have come down to us.