Medieval Decorative Ornament [antikvár]

/ I^EFACE. j]ANY works have been issued, from time to time, which have treated very ably, several sub-divisions of English Mediseval Architecture, such as Window tracery. Mouldings, Stained Glass, and the like, which have been well exemplified and explained in detail ; but foliage, except in the way of illustrations, has been left untouched. " Pugin's Gothic Ornaments," the earliest, and a very excellent work on the subject, was simply a collection of examples without any arrangement, and my own work on "Gothic Ornaments," which I commenced to issue, in monthly parts, in the year 1846, was merely a further miscellaneous accumulation of examples, published as I obtained them. I have, however, for some years past, entertained the idea of issuing a work in which I would endeavour to describe and elucidate the progress and development of English foliated ornament from the twelfth to the fifteenth century. Monsieur Viollet-le-Duc has well exemplified French foliated ornament in his Dictionnaire raisonné de f Architecture Française, more especially in the articles "Flore" and "Sculpture," but the same thing has never yet been attempted for the "Flora" of English Architecture. I have, therefore, to the utmost of my ability, endeavoured to supply this deficiency among our Architectural works. In doing this I have, necessarily, taken advantage of my original sketches for the " Gothic Ornaments," to reproduce some of the best examples. A few of my old subscribers have somewhat objected to this, thinking I ought to have obtained fresh subjects. It must be remembered, however, that the examples given in the " Ornaments," embrace some of the finest specimens to be found in the kingdom, and I felt that I was unable to carry out my intention, in a satisfactory manner, without giving a selection from them. I have, at the same time, added a very considerable number of fresh examples, besides those of the Norman and of the transitional period between that and Early English, none of which appeared in the " Ornaments." These periods are highly interesting, and absolutely necessary in presenting a consecutive view of English Mediaeval Foliage. They shew how our English Norman work, with its interlacing strap foliage, of the Celtic type, became softened down, during the transitional period, until it at length developed into the beautiful, flowing, and graceful lines of the Early English. These early examples, also, are most important for the purpose of study and for obtaining fresh "motifs" for modern ornamentation. The work further endeavours to point out how gradually the ornamentation of INTRODUCTION. OWEVER closely we endeavour to trace the origin of Decorative Art, we find that it constantly originated in forms taken from Natural Foliage. No doubt simple cutting, or notching with a knife or other sharp tool, preceded the imitation of natural form, and for this reason the zigzag and its simple combinations were the earliest forms of ornamentation invented by man. The zigzag is found in the primitive work of nearly all nations—shewing that it was the first natural step in the attempt at ornamentation although no people ever developed its capabilities so much, or adhered to it so long, as the Normans. As soon as tools improved, and primitive workmen felt they were able to go beyond simple notches, they began to imitate natural objects; and consequently the most simple leaves and flowers which were growing around them, as well as the forms of the animals with which they were familiar, were soon rendered by them and adapted to the decoration of their works. Now as this facility of imitation varied among different people, so their renderings from nature varied ; and as early artists also copied from one another, these diverse manners of following nature became more confirmed and stereotyped as time advanced. Thus arose that highly conventional treatment of natural forms which appears so conspicuously in early works, giving great distinctness of character, and shewing marked difference in the manner of rendering even the same natural objects by various nations at different periods in the world's history. That foliage was introduced in ornamental art at a very early period, may also be known from what is recorded in the Bible. We read in the Book of Exodus, that the seven-branched candlestick was expressly modelled from the almond; and that " pomegranates of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and twined linen " were also worked upon the robes of the High Priests : the latter being decorated also by the additional aid of colour. In the description given in the Book of Kings of the building of the Temple of Solomon, we are also told that " the cedar of the house within was carved with knops and open flowers." Of the two pillars of brass, " The chapiters which were upon the top of the pillars were of Lily-work," and "had pomegranates also above, over against the belly which