Fig. 171.—Counterchange ornament, Spanish embroidery.
The dove in Christian art is the emblem of fidelity and of the Holy Spirit, the pelican of the Atonement, and the phœnix of the Resurrection. One of the symbols of our Lord is a fish, because its Greek name Ἰχθύς (Ichthus) contains the initials of “Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Saviour.” It was also used as the symbol of a Christian passing through the world without being sullied by it, as the fish is sweet, in spite of its living in salt water; it is found engraved in the soft stone of the Roman catacombs (where the early Christians took refuge), with the monogram and other inscriptions. The Vesica piscis, or fish form, often encloses the Virgin and Child, and is the common form of the seals of religious houses, abbeys, colleges, &c. The four evangelists are represented respectively as a lion, a calf, a man, and an eagle,—St. Mark being the lion, the calf St. Luke, the man St. Matthew, and the eagle St. John.
Fig. 172.—Moresque Counterchange pattern, inlaid marble.
Many plants are used as symbols in Christian art: the vine, as typical of Christ, during Byzantine times and the Middle Ages. In Scripture we find frequent allusions to the vine and grapes; the wine-press is typical of the “Passion,” as we read in Isaiah. The passion-flower, as its name denotes, was, and is, used as an emblem of the death of Christ. The lily is the emblem of purity, and has always been used as the attribute of the Virgin Mary in pictures of the Annunciation. We find this plant often engraved on the tombs of early Christian virgins. From the iris, formerly called a lily, is derived the flower de luce, or fleur-de-lis, one of the finest conventional renderings of any flower; it was much used as a decoration in sculpture, painting, and weaving during the thirteenth and following centuries. It was the royal insignia of France; mediæval Florence bore it on her shield and on her coin, the fiorino; and it was used in the crowns of many sovereigns, from King Solomon down to our own Queen. The trefoil is an emblem of the Trinity, and is a common form in Gothic decoration.
Figs. 173 and 174.—Interchange ornament.
The symbolic and mnemonic classes have now been described, and the æsthetic alone remains. Æsthetic form we owe to the clearness and directness of the Greek mind. The Greeks were contented with the simple solution of the problem before them, which was to beautify what they had in hand. If they wanted allegorical subjects they confined them to their figure subjects, and being thus freed from other disturbing elements, they concentrated their whole attention on perfecting floral form. They attained perfection in this as they did in their figures, by correcting the peculiarities of the individual by a study of the best specimens of a whole class; and thus succeeded in making the most perfect type of radiating ornament, and of adapting it to sculpture and painting, on flat and curved surfaces. This ornament has perfect fitness, for you can neither add to it nor take away from it without spoiling its perfection. The same may be said, only in a minor degree, of the colour applied to the carved patterns of the Saracens and Moors: they are both æsthetic works, solely created for their beauty. A symphony in music is a composition of harmonious sounds; it has little subject-matter, and is analogous to æsthetic ornament, only the ear is charmed by the former, as the eye is by the latter.