... Decorators' symbols, emblems & devices / by Guy Cadogan Rothery ; with original designs by E. Fletcher Clayton.

  • Guy Cadogan Rothery
Date:
1907
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: ... Decorators' symbols, emblems & devices / by Guy Cadogan Rothery ; with original designs by E. Fletcher Clayton. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    18/144 (page 14)
    There can ])e no doubt that all decoration in its early stages was symbolic. Primitive man adorned his cave dwelling with rude sketches of hunting scenes. The mural sculptures and jxiintings of the first architects related solely to religious and political subjects, either in the form of actual pictorial representations of events and ceremonies, or by the use of llowers, animals or other objects which conveyed a special meaning. Even colours had their value, each having a separate attribute. This form of decoration was developed to an extraordinary degree by the Egy])tians, and also very considerably by the Greeks and Romans. In medicneval Europe a particular branch of art, heraldry —entirely symbolical—added to the variety at the disposal of those who had to beautif\^ the outside and inside of private dwellings and })ublic buildings. This desire to appeal to the mind while })leasing the eye has jx'rsisted throughout the ages down to our own days, and is responsible for much of the con\'entional ornamentation which is now in com- mon use, though it no longer conveys the meaning it once did. Thus the acanthus, and the skull and hv)rns (d bullocks for cajfitals of jfillars and pilasters, caryatides, and again, the I^gyptian lotus, the (ireek kc}^ pattern, the rose, and the fleur-de-lys, all of which had special meanings, have entered into the common stock of the decorator’s art. Such generall}' received designs can be safely introduced almost anywhere, but there are other emblems which can only be appro])riately introduced for S])ecial jmrposes. \\ e shall see in the course*of this little book that very large numbers of objects