It would be excellent practice for the student in this new motif in decorative art to try, by application of the foregoing instructions, to decipher the meaning of this design before reading the analysis.
Solution of Fig. 281. —We do not think this is put together as scientifically as the system would admit of, but still it can be deciphered.
The scarlet lily (high-souled aspirations) on a gold (knowledge) chevron, which is aid, assistance, in a field of black (ignorance), surmounted by the sunflower (pure and lofty thoughts), freely translated, might be read: Aspirations after knowledge help to illumine the darkness of ignorance with pure and lofty thoughts. Aspirations (lily) after knowledge (gold) help (chevron) to illumine (the gold chevron and lily brighten up the dulness of the black field) the darkness of ignorance (black) with pure and lofty thoughts (sunflower).
Fig. 282.
For younger girls the plain shield of one color with an appropriate flower had best be used, which they may vary ad infinitum. A simple yet pretty shield can be made by placing a four-leaved clover, symbolical of good-luck, on a shield of one color, silver, meaning purity, innocence, showing that innocence, combined with the language of the clover, expresses good-fortune.
We might go on forming innumerable designs, each more beautiful than the last, but enough hints have been given to enable the young people to make any style of design in this decorative language which may best suit their purpose. Young girls can decorate menu cards, having each motto exactly suited to every separate guest, the sentiment being indicative of some feeling or quality peculiar to each person. Invitations for parties, also orders of dances or games, may be designed in the same way.
| Fig. 283. | Fig. 284 |
This beautiful combination of flowers and heraldry is appropriate for ornamental needlework, to be embroidered on chairs, worked on screens, painted on velvet, wrought on scarfs, and adapted in innumerable ways to add to the refinement and attractiveness of home.
| Fig. 285. | Fig. 286. |