Elementary principles of ornamentJames Ward



University of Wisconsin
LIBRARY.
UIS
■ WV-^- 1 1 w








ELEMENTARY
PRINCIPLES OF ORNAMENT.



ELEMENTARY
PRINCIPLES OF ORNAMENT
JAMES WARD
t •
HEAD MASTER OF THE MACCLESFIELD SCHOOL OP ART
LONDON
CHAPMAN AND HALL, Limited
1S90


Richard Clay and Sons, Limited,
london and bungay.


-00 21
PREFACE.
The contents of this book chiefly consist of a
series of class lectures, delivered to the students of the
Macclesfield School of Art. They are published in the
hope that they may be useful to general students in
art, and more particularly to those who are specially
interested in the subject of decorative design. The
Illustrations are merely intended as blackboard dia-
grams, and were used as such when the lectures
were given. I have added to the lectures in this
book a glossary of terms commonly used in orna-
ment. As a text-book for candidates who wish to
sit for the Government Third Grade Examination
in the "Elementary Principles of Ornament," I trust
it may be found serviceable.
J. WARD.
Macclesfield, 1890.





CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
PAGE
Definition of Ornament—Methods of Expression—Straight
Lined Ornament I
CHAPTER II.
The Curved Line in Ornament—Explanation of the Lead-
ing Principles IO
CHAPTER III.
The Proper Decoration of Mouldings—The Ornamental
Treatment of Walls, Ceilings, and Floors—Relief
Modelled Work 22
CHAPTER IV.
The Proper and Improper Shapes of Planes—Uniformity—
Selection and Arrangement of Decorative Elements—
Painted Ornament—Division of Forms and Shapes in
Architecture, &c 32


2
ELEMENTARY
thing is required to be done with it before we can give it
that name.
To make an ornamental design, the units of the
decorative material must be arranged and brought to
order; repetition and symmetry may not be illustrated,
but even distribution, order, and balance of masses must
be. When a design or pattern ceases to appear orderly,
it is no longer ornament. The sketch at Fig. 2 is an
attempt to illustrate ornament by using the same ele-

ments as in Fig. I, and adding to them the principles of
even distribution, at the same time having a due regard
to the boundary-lines of the panel in the general
arrangement.
Dependent or applied ornament is that which is
specially designed and fitted for the position it occupies.
Independent ornament is of the nature of such things
as shields, medallions, labels, emblems, and devices, with
or without inclosing frames, paterae, crests, swags, or


PRINCIPLES OF ORNAMENT.
3
festoons, and other properties; that is, they may be used
alone, or in combination with other dependent ornament.
Numerous examples may be quoted of inappropriate
ornament. As a rule, any kind of ornament that is not
governed by its plan, or falsely constructed from an archi-
tectural point of view, may be called inappropriate. For
instance, if upright panels and pilasters were decorated
with ornament running in oblique lines, or with a
strongly-marked series of horizontal bands.; or a carpet
pattern designed to run in one particular direction; or
columns used in decoration, but supporting nothing ; con-
soles or brackets turned upside down (a frequent occur-
rence) ; mouldings that are round and elliptical in section,
decorated with frets and straight-lined ornament; panels
overloaded with mouldings; forms organic or otherwise
used together, but out of scale with one another; things
made to simulate what they are not; any excess of enrich-
ment,—all this may safely be classed as inappropriate
ornament.
Methods of Expression.—Broadly speaking, ornament
is expressed in three different ways: first, in pure outline,
as traced with a point; second, in flat tints, where
breadth is added, as in painting with the brush; and
third, in relief or raised work, as in modelling and sculp-
ture. These three divisions may be subdivided to almost
any extent, but theoretically considering the subject, all
the subdivisions are but varieties of the first three species.
Looking at these varieties in detail, we find amongst them
relief or modelled ornament, with no other outline than
that given by light and shade; the same, with the addi-
tion of colour, say in two shades—one for the ornament,
and one for the background, the expressions here being
more defined; the same again with the forms and back-
ground "picked out" in a variety of colours, giving a
still more prominent character by the colour contrasts.
Painted ornament in light and shade, with the addition
of colour, is an imitation of the latter: this we will notice
again.
B 2


4
ELEMENTARY
Going back to ornament expressed in outline, under
this head is classed all the early decorative work by
mankind, whether on the prehistoric bone-etchings or on
pottery. The decoration on the Assyrian limestone
cylinders, and bronze dishes and tablets of the same
nation, the incised work on the Greek and Etruscan
cista and hand-mirrors, is expressed in outline.
Sgraffito-viotV. is a kind of outline ornament cut in
plaster revealing a different colour of plaster underneath.
The antique vase paintings were executed chiefly in out-
line. Copper-plate engraved work and glass etching
might also be classed as work done in outline.
Ornament on a flat surface, with the addition of colour,
forms a large class in itself, and is a common method
of expression in decoration. For examples, in illustra-
tion, note all Arabesque painted ornament, whether poly-
chromatic or in "grisaille": the latter being ornament
painted in monochrome-grey (or the tints of black and
white), in imitation of relief-work; illuminated manu-
scripts, and the borders of the same known technically as
"illumination." The word " Arabesque," used above, is de-
rived from the Moresque or Arabian ornament. The plant,
fruit, flower, and geometric forms used by the Arabians
to decorate their walls, floors, and ceilings (the human
and animal forms being forbidden by their religion) were
called Arabesques; but what we understand now really
as Arabesques, originated from the high-class painted
ornament of the ancient Romans and Greeks, used by
them to decorate the walls and ceilings of temples,
houses, and tombs. Everything almost was represented
in the animal and vegetable kingdoms; the materials
and elements in their composition were usually arranged
and composed on a geometric, or, more often, on a scroll-
work, basis. The discovery of this decorative painting
in the ancient baths of Titus led Raphael to adopt the
style, and to improve on it, by introducing allegory and
higher-class features as new elements. It may be said,
the culminating point in Arabesque painting was reached


PRINCIPLES OF ORNAMENT.
5
by him and his chief pupil in ornament, Giovanni Udina,
in that great work, the decoration of the Loggia of the
Vatican. Pursuing the subject of ornament on a flat
surface in colour, more examples are: inlaid wood-work
or wood-mosaic, called "parquetry" when applied to
floors, generally used in two colours or kinds of wood;
marquetry is also inlaid wood-work, generally practised
on a smaller scale for cabinets, small boxes, and other
things. Stone and metal are also used with the wood,
in small cubical forms. Tunbridge Wells, in Kent, is
famous for this kind of work. "Tarsia" is another form
of the same sort of thing, views of buildings being the
chief subjects chosen for representation, besides other
ornament. This art was extensively practised by the
Venetians in the fifteenth century: the woods employed
were usually walnut and boxwood ; panels in chair-backs,
coffers, and church choirs were the favourite subjects for
this kind of decoration. Glass and marble mosaic, en-
amels, and stained glass belonged to the same division.
Stencilling; pattern-weaving in textile fabrics; block
and roller printing, both in fabrics and paper-hangings,
and also in floor-cloths; tesselated pavements and tiles—
all belong to the category of ornament on a flat surface,
separated by colours in juxtaposition. Ornament is ex-
pressed in damask cloths and hangings by the changes
and crossing of warp and weft, and is shown in flat tints
of two shades. The expression of ornament in fret-work,
piercing, lace, filigree, wire-work, and wrought-iron, is of
a similar class and character, and is generally termed
"open-work."
The next division for our consideration will be the
"elementary forms " used in ornament. It is assumed
that the spaces are given we are required to ornament,
such as a ceiling, a wall, a carpet, frieze, or door-panel.
The boundary-lines are, of course, the inclosing lines of
our space or field, which may be subdivided into smaller
panels, with or without borders. This subdividing is
called the " setting-out." We have now to think of the


PRINCIPLES OF ORNAMENT.
7

11
origin; 14 is a Japanese key pattern, constructed on a
mesh or net-work of squares; and Fig. 19 is derived


8
ELEMENTARY
from the plaiting of straws, and is a straight-lined sort of
ornament, common to prehistoric and Byzantine work.
Frets are decidedly more appropriate to flat surfaces
than to concave or convex ones; they may, however, be

lis

14.
used on slightly concave surfaces, such as the inside
hollows of plates or dishes, then their vertical lines will
compose well, bv radiating from the centre of the plate.
The square within square, and double and single fret,


PRINCIPLES OF ORNAMENT.
9
shown at Fig. 8, were often used by the Greeks, and
earlier by the Egyptians, on the ceilings of their tombs,
both singly and in combination with spirals and circular
flower ornaments, alternating with each other, as in bands
and border ornament.

I 9
Lozenge and diamond shapes are other elements of
straight-lined ornament, and form the basis of many
repeating patterns in textile fabrics, paper-hangings, and
titles. Hexagons, octagons, and triangles are also used
largely as constructive bases in pattern-designing: but,
after all, these forms may be reduced to the square and
the circle.


ELEMENTARY PRINCIPLES OF ORNAMENT. n
swag is formed of links and hangs like a chain, it is
called a catenary, and as an element is identical with the
line observed in festoons and loopings of drapery.
Looking at the illustrations, we have in Fig. 25 circles
touching each other; this arrangement is the basis
of endless diaper patterns and repeating forms. Next
we come to circles intersecting each other, in Fig. 26,
a simple and very satisfactory kind of pattern, common

2 +
alike to early Egyptian, Arabian, and Japanese diapers.
Fig. 27 is a simple border ornament made of circles and
segments.
An effective disk border like that made from the cut
shells of the savage tribes is shown at Fig. 29, and a
more important development of the latter is that of Fig.
30; this is taken from Assyrian tesserae, small oblong
pieces of stone or metal, and the decoration here shown


12 ELEMENTARY
was incised in the surface of the material, often
alternating with the guitloche pattern (Figs. 28, 31
and 34). The latter pattern was a very important one
in Assyrian work, and in Greek moulding decoration,

28
and painted flat ornament. The above-mentioned
tessera; were used as tickets of admission to the theatres
of antiquity.
Figs. 32 and 33 are further examples of ornament


PRINCIPLES OF ORNAMENT. 13
obtained from the circle and its segments; the former
being the Gothic ball-flower decoration. Imbricated cr
scale-like ornament belongs to the circle (see Fig. 22).

35
We now pass naturally from the circle to the spiral
element, from which undoubtedly the greatest part of
ornamental forms are derived.


ELEMENTARY
from Nature. In all good ornament it is essential that
the principles of "fitness," symmetry," "repetition,"
"variety," "unity," and "repose" should be considered
as parts or qualities that go to the making up of the
integral composition.
These may be termed the primary principles. There
are others that might be classed as secondary ones, that
are not essential, nor yet found in all cases of illustrated
ornament, but are very necessary and important in their
places, such as the principles of "radiation," "stability,"
"series," "balance," "subordination," "alternation,"
"growth," "geometrical arrangement," and " order."
"Fitness" may be described as that quality which
embraces all the necessary requirements, in material,
texture, and arrangement of masses, in a well-ordered
design, so that after the units of the composition are
set out and balanced with due regard to the plan, any
further addition to or taking away from would mar its


PRINCIPLES OF ORNAMENT.
17
beauty or perfect fitness. This quality is the naked
truth of ornament. Adaptability is merely another
term for fitness, and unsuitableness is its opposite. Orna-
ment can scarcely be said to have a separate existence
from the principle of symmetry. The most unshapen
form or ragged blot if exactly reproduced on the opposite
side of a straight line will make ornament, and at the
same time illustrate symmetry.
Neither is there any quality so universal in natural
forms ; take, for example, the very unsymmetrical single
shell of the oyster—you have only to open it out to
illustrate symmetry in form.
The same principle is observed in the human figure, for
where an unsymmetrical limb or ear, &c, exists, it is
balanced by having its duplicate.
Even in trees, plants, and flowers, the same laws exist,
for if a leaf or flower be unsymmetrical in itself, as a
rule you will find it repeated on the other side of its stem.
Trees are more symmetrical than at first sight appear,
so are clouds. Nature has the delightful habit of
exhibiting waywardness and irregularity, but it is often
apparently so, rather than in reality. The laws of
equilibrium alone will cause a symmetrical growth in
trees ; it is only in detail that any difference is seen, and
this apparent want of regularity is made up again in the
proper balance of the masses in foliage and of the
quantity in the branches and stems. The same remarks
will apply to cloud forms.
In arranging the materials for a picture or in a group
for painting, the symmetry of mass, colour, light and
shade must be attended to, an undue amount of any of
these qualities to the weakening of the others in the work
produces a corresponding weakness in the whole com-
position.
"Repetition" in ornament is one of its vital principles,
and what we have to consider chiefly is how this law is
to be dispensed The simple unmeaning and aesthetic
forms, such as frets, bands, bead ornaments, all moulding
c


18
ELEMENTARY
decorations, and simple diapers, may be repeated to the
greatest extent without appearing monotonous. Symbolic,
and distinguishing forms of any style, on the other hand,
may only be repeated to a very limited extent, even if
they only are simple leaf forms. When we come to
independent ornament, such as emblems, trophies, &c,
still less repetition is allowed. Ascending higher in the
scale of ornamental elements we come to the delineation
of animals, and the human figure. These forms,
especially the latter, can hardly be used twice in the
same design, or scheme of decoration, except at great
intervals. An exception to this rule would be in the case
of Cupids or Amorini, and these must not be rendered so
much in imitation of Nature or realistic in effect, but a
strictly decorative quality must be imparted to them,
such as in the arranging of their flowing lines to compose
with the ornamental spaces they are intended to occupy.
In short, the more like a transcript from Nature the
decorative unit appears, the less will it bear repetition.
We notice, in all barbaric ornament, repetition carried to
excess.
"Variety" is of a higher order than repetition, inasmuch
as it requires more skill to deal with it properly in
ornament. It is the salt of ornament that cures the in-
sipidity of repetition, and is a great power in the hands of
a skilful designer.
"Contrast" is akin to "variety," but ot a more
emphatic kind. In examples of the best ornament it
takes an important part. In linear ornament the circle
and straight line give the greatest contrast, and in colour
it is the chief source of virility. It is the factor used to
produce force, power, and brilliancy ; without it your work
will appear sleepy, monotonous, and dry. It is, however,
no enemy to "repose" in art; rather, when contrast and
repose are united, the result is breadth and grandeur.
In the ornament of the Renaissance, contrast is best
illustrated, owing to the great variety of forms and
elements used. We have the delicate varieties of the


PRINCIPLES OF ORNAMENT.
«9
acanthus foliage contrasting with vase forms, labels,
shields, armour, fish, and other animals, and also the
human figure. Almost anything of an ornamental
character and well-defined form has been used in
harmony and with complete success by the artists of
the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, in pilasters, panels,
friezes, and spandrils.
"Radiation" is a principle illustrated to a great extent
in Nature, and is of several kinds, such as radiation from
a point, from a vertical line, and from a horizonal line.
The law of tangential growth as seen in most plants,
where the minor stems and the leaves spring from the
parent stem, is a species of radiation, and is important in
the construction of scrolls and similar ornament.
In plants of horizontal growth and in umbelliferous
plants, the spiral lines in shells, the primary feathers of a
bird's wing, the fingers in the human hand, are amongst
the subjects that illustrate radiation from a point. The
secondary feathers in the wing of a bird radiate from the
horizontal line of the humerus bone.
The so-called honeysuckle ornament, or anthemions of
the Greeks, afford good illustrations of radiation, and
they are always finer in style when they radiate more
from a horizontal line than from a single point; the
leading lines, pipes, and ribs of acanthus foliage, as seen
in capitals of columns and pilasters, radiate mostly in
this way.
Festoons and swags have their radiation on the
principle of drapery hanging from point to point.
"Balance" in ornament is a quality so necessary that
all bad and debased work may be distinguished by the
want of it Balance differs from symmetry in this respect,
that you may have true balance in form, line, and colour
of a design without symmetry, as in work where the
detail is quite different; but otherwise, if it is to preserve
its dignity as good ornament, it must have its general
masses arranged on a symmetrical basis. Want of
balance is noticed in the Rococo style of ornament, in
C 2


20
ELEMENTARY
the more naturalistic part of Pompeian, in Japanese work
with all its beauty, and in nearly half the ornamental
productions of the present day.
"Repose" is the opposite to unrest or spottiness. It
is well illustrated, and is a characteristic of classical
architecture, in opposition to the unrest of the pinnacled
and spiky forms of the Gothic styles. While the former
is in consonance with a southern climate, where broad
shadows and shelter from the sun are desirable, the latter
is suited to colder and moist climates, where its sloping
roofs and pointed character afford the least suface to rain
and snow, and thus in a great measure protect and
preserve the building.
Horizontality, or a horizontal line, may therefore be
taken as the essential principle of repose, and its
opposite may be illustrated by a vertical line.
From this may be deduced that all horizontal growth of
ornament possesses the quality of repose in a greater
measure or degree than ornament otherwise constructed.
Care should be taken not to confound repose with
heaviness.
In designing the positions of border lines or mouldings
to a panel or pilaster, we should regulate the widths or
distances apart of the lines as to prevent the monotony
seen for example in the lines of a ruled copy-book or an
assemblage of telegraph-wires; no two interspaces or
lines if possible should be of the same width.
In the window openings of factories, and in the endless
rows of iron railing to gardens and parks, we notice this
same kind of monotony, which is very depressing to the
eye ; little or no more expense would put a larger window
here and there, or a more ornate one, and a larger rail
post, or two or more joined together in an ornamental way,
at regulated intervals, would tend to relieve the monotony,
and add a pleasure to the life of the beholder as well.
This want of what is called "alternation" in design
or decoration is of the same character, and analogous
to a surface or object that is decorated so elaborately


PRINCIPLES OF ORNAMENT.
21
with a diaper pattern or otherwise, without a break or
plain surface left, that it is really wearisome to look at.
The value of plain spaces is enormous in design.
Charles Lamb, in one of his delightful letters to Coleridge,
says in finishing: "I will leave you, in mercy, one
small white spot empty below, to repose your eyes upon,
fatigued as they must be with the wilderness of words
they have by this time painfully travelled through." To
the designer this analogy will be obvious and useful.
Plain spaces as alternations in design, are the oases in
the wilderness of ornament, and they may also be
compared to a refreshing silence, after a great noise.
It is easier to fall into the sin of making too much of
a good thing, than it is to weigh your quantities or to
know exactly where to stop. Any excess of ornamenta-
tion must be guarded against, for it generally leads to
still greater excesses.
Elevating the material at the expense of the spiritual
element leads in the end to decay in any style of art.


ELEMENTARY PRINCIPLES OF ORNAMENT. 23
We may next consider briefly the ornamental treatment
of walls, ceilings, and floors.
Beginning with the floor, it is distinctly necessary to
remember that in floor decoration the sense of flatness
should always be maintained, whether it be in carpets,

SO
(XK—SUUC-
roi ram
S6
6-5
iiii
i
I
I
1
5-7
rugs, floor-cloths, mosaic, tiles, or parquetry. Nothing
should be introduced to disturb the flatness, such as in
shading the forms, or in imitation of mouldings. All
realistic renderings of an animal or floral nature should
be carefully avoided. The colour may be as varied as
1'


PRINCIPLES OF ORNAMENT.
29
A study of these divisions will help the designer in setting
out and spacing ornament generally on any surface. In
the case where a ceiling to be decorated is already
divided by beams or joists, the panelling, if admissible,
should be repeated in the different compartments. Ceil-
ings of corridors or long rooms may be divided across at
discretion, but still the arrangement of panels should
contain some elongated ones, that would be dominant,

1
1
:;
»-
H
1
66
and of nearly the proportion as the outlines of the whole
ceiling.
Regarding relief work or modelled ornament on ceil-
ings, this should be so regulated in amount of relief that
the light from windows or artificial light should cause little
or no cast shadows ; the forms should be carefully rounded
off in the more important masses to lessen the abruptness
of cast shadow. An equal division of the larger masses
of light and dark, connected and softened by lesser tones


ELEMENTARY PRINCIPLES OF ORNAMENT. 33
would be also harmonic in form. The uniformity of
shape in a circle and a square, though essential in many
cases in architecture, is, however, inartistic in ornament,
especially in painted decoration ; either the contours of
these forms must be broken (as in the round heads of
flowers, in the square nail-headed Gothic ornament) when
used in painted and low-relieved decoration, or the aid
of perspective must be enlisted to render them artistic,
by converting them apparently to oblong and elliptical
shapes. It is an old acknowledged truism that the supe-
riority of the Greek mouldings over the Roman lies in
the fact that the former are designed from the sections of
the ellipse, and the latter from those of the circle. Many
causes have been assigned to account for the ellipse being
a superior ornamental form to the circle: the prime
reason would appear to be that while the circle possesses
unity it lacks contrast; the ellipse having both requisi-
tions qualifies it at once as an artistic and pleasing form,
far above the circle, which is dowered only with unity;
of course this applies equally to the sections of each
figure from which the mouldings are designed.
The form of the human figure, or of an animal, de-
lineated in elevation or drawn as a silhouette, is decidedly
inartistic, though naturally and essentially uniform; it
gains, however, considerably in an artistic point of view,
when drawn or seen in perspective; this is simply because
it loses a little of its unpleasant uniformity, and gains a
corresponding amount of contrast—the contrast of fore-
shortening and diminishing of similar parts with others
seen, let us say, more parallel to the picture plane. It
will be seen that uniformity by itself cannot be con-
sidered a good quality in ornament; it is only a part of
the whole that requires the addition of contrast or variety.
Uniformity produces monotony, which is always painful
to the eye in design.
The remarks previously made on ceiling-divisions will
apply generally to the dividing of any plane in harmonic
spaces: the same rule—namely, that the general outline
v


34
ELEMENTARY
by its character, will govern and define the method of
spacing subdivisions, inasmuch as one division must be
larger or more prominent than any of the others, and
also it must be the first or principal echo of the general
outline, while the smaller subdivisions will be echoes
necessarily fainter, but characteristic of the minor quali-
ties, such as in c<5ntour and area. This can be illustrated
in the divisions and spaces of a decorated vase; in this
instance we deal only with the surface as a field

for decoration. The lines of subdivision are drawn
across the object at those points of height where the
transition of curve is most apparent in the outline, and
a proper expression of binding strength is thereby im-
parted (Fig. 68).
We have in Fig. 69 three examples of drinking-glasses;
it will be seen that A is not artistic in proportions, by
reason of the stem being of the same height as the bowl,
whilst B and C, not having the same uniformity of height-


PRINCIPLES OF ORNAMENT.
35
measurement, are more pleasing shapes ; this applies also
to the panels of doors at Fig. 70. Any marked uniformity
in the principal measurements of the divisions in planes

L iy0\ 1
or solids never looks well, and ought to be avoided. It
would appear an exception to this, in the uniform mea-
surements of such objects as balusters and spindle-
shaped figures, but it really comes under the rule that the
D 2


PRINCIPLES OF ORNAMENT.
37
given as a good example of the selection and arrange-
ment of the simple decorative elements. It is a capital
example of savage ingenuity, being a shield made of
woven cane, decorated with appliqub work of cut shells,
sewed on the ground-work of black and yellow cane, and
is the work of South Sea Islanders.
First, there is the simple but fitting shape in the outline,
then the horizontal bands that with a show of strength

emphasize the points where the outline is weakest; the
constructive ground-work has a good contrast of circular
oblique, upright, and horizontal lines; and lastly, the
decorative work of cut shells further beautifies the object,
and the selection of those forms that are in unison with
the ground-work pattern is judicious and correct. The
weakest part of the decoration is where too many of the
circular units are applied, at the top and bottom; the
undue repetition of these forms gives an undesirable


ELEMENTARY PRINCIPLES OF ORNAMENT. 43
Sixth, compositions specially designed to fill spaces,
not included in the above.
Taking the first, the student will not find it a difficult
matter to understand what a "diaper" is; it may safely
be said that three-fourths of conventional ornament con-
sists of diapers; nearly all woven fabrics patterns, the
majority of paper-hanging designs, patterns produced by
weaving or painting, either from blocks or rollers, tile
patterns—in fact, any pattern that repeats from the four
cardinal points over a surface is in reality a diaper, how-
ever complex it may be in itself. It differs only by its
complexity from a simpler spot or unit that is repeated
oftener, notwithstanding its greater size or less frequent

repeat. The derivation of the word comes from " linge
d'Yprh," being the name given to the linen of that
peculiar pattern, composed of squares, and such like
simple ornament placed close together, and was first made
at Ypres, in Flanders. Some of the best examples of
pure diaper patterns are to be found sculptured on the
walls and spandrils of Westminster Abbey, Lincoln
and Canterbury Cathedrals. These were imitated from
original diapers painted and woven on linen and other
fabrics. Diapered work is very frequent in Arabian and
Moorish ornament (see Figs. 75, 76, 77, and 78).
"Diapering" is distinguished from "spotting" and


PRINCIPLES OF ORNAMENT.
45
horizontal band in their decorations, both painted and
sculptured. The embroidered patterns on their dresses
and curtains, and the beautiful ornament on their vases,
were mainly designed on the horizontal band or frieze
system. The frieze is a very characteristic feature in
Greek ornament and architecture; if you take frieze or
band ornament out of Greek work there is very little
ornament of any kind left. Figs. 28, 36, and 45 are
favourite frieze and flat band patterns of Greek origin.
A few dress ornaments from the vase paintings are shown
at Figs. 82 and 83.
Spotting at regular intervals was the favourite way of
decorating the larger surface of dress material. The
circular flower that usually formed the spot in Greek
ornament was composed of a greater number of petals
than the later Roman and Gothic, which shows its
Assyrian origin (see Fig. 82). Persian work affords also
good examples of horizontal band treatment (see Figs.
84 and 85).
Third division: perpendicular bands are not so com-
mon in decoration as the former class of ornament; they

79


principles of ornament.
47
be soffits of arches in classic styles, and the decoration
of side and under surfaces of groins and ribs in Gothic

63
roofs. The decoration on these parts, when constructed
to cover the surface uniformly, is best when it starts from


56
ELEMENTARY
development to pure ornament can be studied in the
many rosette patterns of the various styles. These,
though circular in plan, which at first sight would appear
to be derived from flower heads and cups, are in reality a
cluster of leaves arranged and radiating like the spokes
of a wheel, or in a spiral form, from a central point.
There are many plants, as, for instance, the bedstraw
and the madder plant, that have their sets of leaves

arranged in a whorl around the joints of their upright
stems : looking down on these leaves we notice the plan
appears like a rosette. This idea must have occurred to
the ancients when designing their rosettes and paterae.
The results obtained by grouping a cluster of leaves
together in this manner are finer and stronger in appear-
ance, particularly for sculptured work, than any mere
imitation of flower heads (see Fig. 95). Leaflets and


ELEMENTARY PRINCIPLES OF ORNAMENT. 59
higher beauties and general nature alone ought to be
expressed, and what may seem a paradox, the less
naturalistic we make our designs, the more Nature we
will put into them—that is to say, we should strive to put
the best intentions of Nature into our ornament, avoiding
poor and stunted forms, as well as over-nourished and
rank ones (for we find Nature abounds in both); but to
seek for the finest and the most typical forms of leaves,
flowers, and stems, and try to make our designs express
the higher ideal that Nature herself is striving after. The
truest ideal, after all, is only the most natural.
In Persian ornament we find flower and plant forms
treated in a thoroughly decorative manner (Figs. 84 and
85); the pink and hyacinth were favourites with Persian
decorators, as the maple and vine in mediaeval and Gothic
work, the lotus and papyrus in Egyptian, the peony in
Chinese, and the chrysanthemum in Japanese ; while such
styles as the Arabian, Greek, Roman, and Celtic, are more
purely conventional, and, without having much apparent
naturalism, are still the outcome and are based on natural
forms.


CHAPTER VII.
STUDENTS in design cannot be too strongly advised
to cultivate the habit of making small but correct
drawings of all kinds of plants, both in flower and in fruit,

especially plants of single flower and of simple growth,
accompanied by careful notes of the construction at the
stem and leaf junctions.
There is no need to make a botanical analysis of a


ELEMENTARY PRINCIPLES OF ORNAMENT. 61
plant for the purposes of design; sections of petals,
stamens, leaves, and fruit, may serve a scientific end, but
make a very poor show in what is intended for an
artistic design. Landor the poet thought it was an act of
cruelty to cut a flower from its stem: it would be inter-
esting to know his opinion of that school of decorators
who believe-in dissecting plants to find "new forms," so
that many of their designs present novelties that Nature
never dreamt of, such as broken stems, leaves neatly cut

95 /oo
in half, flat elevations, and sections of petals, stamens,
pistils, and seed pods, and other curious forms, suggested
by these dissections, so that the design when completed
is at best an ironed-out barbarism, and certainly innocent
of any violation of the second commandment. In this
respect the designers of this school will tell you that their
work is unlike the Arabian or Moresque decoration (the
artists of which were forbidden by their religion to make
a representation of anything in "the heavens above or


62
ELEMENTARY
the earth beneath"), inasmuch as theirs all comes from
Nature,—but, with the barbarous aid of the knife and
scissors. The whole testimony of the best old decorative
design is decidedly against the above practice, and it is
refreshing to see at the present time a reaction setting in,
mainly owing to the efforts in England of such men as
Morris, Crane, Burne-Jones, and a few others who prefer
Nature to novelty ; and, as a consequence, we see already

the beauty and truth of the old work returning afresh, like
the flowers again in the spring of the year.
In selecting plants for particular purposes and positions
in design, it would be as well to bear in mind the
material we wish to decorate, whether it be textile, wood,
or metal, so as to choose that kind best adapted by their
fragility, as the harebell, wild poppy, grasses, and ferns,
to muslins, cottons, and lace; the mallow, oak, orange,


7°
ELEMENTARY
generated by the free play of the brush (see Fig. 113). The
arabesques of the Vatican, and the Italian glazed earthen-
ware of the Cinque Cento period, afford the best examples
of this painted foliage. The acanthus was the parent of
nearly all the subsequent styles of decorative foliage down
to our Early English Gothic, and the history of its modifi-
cations has clearly established the difficulty of trying to
improve on the original Classic type. We are advised in
a general way by artists and writers on art to seek for a
new variety of leaf that might in time rival the acanthus
in ornament. The advice is praiseworthy, and many

have given their thoughts to it, but no lasting results have
as yet foreshadowed themselves. Of late years there
appears to be a kind of scroll-work very much in favour
with some artists. It of course cannot be called new, any-
more than anything else in the world; but its persistent
application, from illumination to stone-carving, will per-
haps in time stamp it with an independent character. At
present it is more like a sea-weed than anything else, but
also partakes of the acanthus, ox-eye daisy, or wild poppy
leafage. Perhaps it is just as well that we should have
no fixed school of ornamental art, as variety of thought


78 ELEMENTARY
sacred to Bacchus, and are classed as symbolic ones
in Greek and Roman decoration. Early Christian and
mediaeval art is teeming with symbolic ornament which
goes under the names of "allegory," "emblems,"
"attributes," "symbols," "images," &c. Allegory
may be said to possess a higher meaning than any
FIG /I9
of the other terms; in art it differs from them in this
respect, that, while possessing a veiled or hidden mean-
ing in common with them, it also must have, to be worthy
of its name, an expression of ideal beauty in composition
and form. This abstract quality distinguishes it from
an emblem or a symbol, nor is it necessary that it should


GLOSSARY.
9'
absolute sameness in the two sides of a piece of ornament.
See Figs. 89, 90, and 91.
Tangential growth, the principal construction lines in foliated
ornament and scroll patterns should illustrate "tangential
growth "; the stems and curves should appear to flow out of
the central line. This natural principle is derived from the
growth of stems and branches of freely growing plants, and
under this law the secondary lines of construclion in a
flowing pattern should appear to touch or glide into the
primary ones, and not to cross or interlace.
Uniformity, see page 33.
Unit, the smallest or simplest complete expression of ornament
in any scheme of decoration.
Unity, perfect agreement in all the parts of a design; harmony
and order. These qualities are best arrived at by the
judicious use of the principle of contrast; unity is often a
characteristic of designs that are very monotonous, so by
itself it will scarcely render a design pleasing as a whole;
variety must be added to unity in order to effect this.
Unsymmetrical, without symmetry, such as the volute or single
scroll form. See the word "balance."
Variety, a mixture of various shaped forms; alternation in
different measures of various elements in ornament.
KICHARD CLAY AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON AND BUNGAY.


i