TERMS USED IN
ORNAMENTAL
ART.
Ornament is the means by which Beauty or Significance is imparted to Utility. It is either Symbolical or Aesthetic. Symbolic ornament consists of elements or forms chosen for the sake of their significance—Aesthetic ornament consists of forms or elements chosen for their Beauty alone, or their power of appealing to the senses.
Of the historic styles of ornament, the Egyptian, Assyrian, Byzantine, Scandinavian, Persian, Indian, Gothic, Polynesian, and much of the Chinese and Japanese are symbolical, having elements and ornamental details chosen for their significance; while in the Greek, Roman, and Renascence ornament, the purely aesthetic motive is characteristic.
Ornament, again, may be natural or conventional—Imitative or Inventive. The terms “natural” and “imitative” have the same significance—viz., the exact copying of natural forms, so that they become principal—not secondary as perfect ornament should be. Conventional ornament is the adaptation of natural forms to ornamental and technical requirements, and is seen in its greatest beauty in the frank treatment by the Indians and Persians of their flora and fauna for the decorative enrichment of their textile fabrics, pottery, and jewellery.
Inventive ornament is that which consists of elements not derived from any natural source; the Moresque style is a good example of this type.
The elements of ornament are the details or forms chosen for ornamental motives, and the principals of ornament are the arrangement of these forms and details; they comprise repetition, alternation, symmetry, radiation, balance, proportion, variety, eurythmy, contrast, intersection, complication, fitness, and utility.
Repetition is the use of elements in a continuous series; Alternation is the repetition of an element at intervals, with others intervening; Symmetry: when the leading lines are equal or similar (or reciprocal) on both sides; Radiation: when the lines spring from a centre, for example, a bird’s wing and the flower of the daisy; Balance and Proportion: when the relation and harmony of parts is based upon natural laws; Variety implies difference in the details, with respect to form or type; Eurythmy signifies rhythms or harmony in ornament; Contrast is the arrangement in close proximity of colours or forms of opposite characters, as the straight line with the curve, or light with dark; Intersection is the crossing of the leading lines, the Arabian, Moresque and Celtic styles are examples of this principle; Complication is the effect produced by elements so arranged as to be more or less difficult to trace with the eye alone: as in the Japanese key and the Moresque star pattern. Fitness and utility as their names imply are essentials in all good periods of ornamentation.
