If we turn to nature to assist us with new geometrical patterns, we shall find the most exquisite forms in the crystals of every newly-fallen snowflake, and in the nodal-points on a plate of metal or glass, covered with sand, and struck by sound. We shall hardly ever find in these a repetition of exactly the same combination, and their variety is only equalled by their beauty.
FOOTNOTES:
[96] Sir G. Birdwood tells us of patterns of an Indian brocade called “Chundtara” (moon and stars), figured all over with representations of heavenly bodies.
[97] Pliny, “Natural History,” lib. xxx. c. 8, § 34.
[98] There is a shell pattern in gold on a twelfth century fragment of a Bishop’s garment at Worcester.
[99] See Wilkinson’s “Ancient Egyptians,” vol. iii. pp. 132, 133, 350, 553.
[100] Bötticher, in his “Tektonik,” will allow of but one origin for the “egg and tongue” pattern. I cannot give up the evident descent from the lotus flower and bud; but I have said before that a pattern has sometimes a double parentage, and it may be so in this case.
[101] The lotus is almost entirely lost as a native growth in India, and is fast disappearing in Egypt. The lotus blossom in Egypt was not only a sacred emblem, but also an objet de luxe. At their feasts, the honoured guests were presented with the flowers, and as they faded, slaves carried round baskets of fresh blossoms. See Wilkinson’s “Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians.”
[102] See the Book of Lindisfarne, and the two Celtic bronze shields in the British Museum. These last are very curious. The long involved lines show their origin, and the shields are enriched with enamel and corals, in repetitions of the prehistoric cross.
[103] See “Album of Photographs of the Marien-Kirche, Dantzic,” Taf. 31.