Fig. 139.—Laurel from nature.
In Persian[7] ornament we find flower and plant forms treated in a thoroughly decorative manner (Figs. [118] and [119]); the pink and hyacinth were as great favourites with Persian decorators as the maple and vine were in mediæval work, the lotus and papyrus in Egyptian, the peony in Chinese, and the chrysanthemum in Japanese; while such styles as the Greek, Roman, Celtic, and Saracenic are more purely conventional, and, without having much realism, are still based on natural forms.
Students in design cannot be too strongly advised to cultivate the habit of making correct drawings of
140 141
Figs. 140 and 141.—Borders derived from the laurel.
all kinds of plants, both in flower and fruit, especially those of single flower and of simple growth, accompanied by careful notes of the construction at the stem and leaf junctions.
The botanical analysis of a plant may serve a scientific end, and be useful to show the student the construction of the plant, but it makes a very poor show in an artistic design. Landor the poet said it was an act of cruelty to cut a flower from its stem: it would be interesting to know his opinion of that school which believes in dissecting plants to find “new forms,” many of whose designs present novelties that nature never dreamt of, such as leaves neatly cut in half, elevations, and sections of petals, stamens, pistils, seed pods, and other curious forms suggested