''Design „ :,T.'::C.'i>^-"'-J6mm:^' :: ^1N6 I ji!l '/^..'' 0;U.Librji^'. pi- ii m 3t^aca, S^ew loth Cornell University Library arV18094 The planning ot •Jf"!'''!?.])?.../,,, 3 1924 031 228 426 Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924031228426 TEXT BOOKS OF ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. By lewis F. day. II. THE PLANNING OF ORNAMENT. TEXT BOOKS OF ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. By lewis F. day. Now Ready. I. THE ANATOMY OF PATTERN. Illustrated with 35 Plates. II. THE PLANNING OF ORNAMENT. Illustrated with 38 Plates. III. IN PREPARATION. This third volume of the Series will treat of Ornamental Design in its Relation to Materials, Tools, and the Process of its Execution. SCofo TEXT BOOKS OF ORNAMENTAL DESIGN. THE PLANNING OF ORNAMENT. BY LEWIS F. DAY, AUTHOR OF ' EVERY-DAY ART,' 'THE ANATOMY OF PATTERN,'. ETC. ILLUSTRATED. B. T. BATSF0I?.D,i5?, H^GH HOLBORN. 1887. ® PREFACE. The second of a series of Text Books stands scarcely in need of preface. The aim and scope, as well as the origin, of this series was duly set forth in 'The Anatomy of Pattern.' What was there said applies for the most part to the present volume. It was not possible in this case to make the plates speak quite so plainly for them- selves as in the former handbook ; but I have made a point of referring to them specifically at every turn, at the risk even of tiresome iteration. They are arranged strictly in the order in which mention is made of them, and placed as near as possible to the allusion to them in the text. The fact that on the publication of ' The Anatomy of Pattern,' I was invited by the Department of Science and Art to deliver a short course of lectures on the subject at vi Preface. South Kensington, leads me to hope that these Text Books are likely to fulfil the educa- tional purpose I had in view in undertaking them. Lewis F. Day. 13, Mecklenburg Square, London, W.C. November \oth, 1887. TABLE OF CONTENTS, PAGE I. — Introductory i II. — The Use of the Border 3 III.— Within the Border 16 rlV.— Some Alternatives in Design 27 V. — On the Filling of the Circle and other Shapes ■ .. 37 VI. — Order and Accident 45 DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF PLATES. 1. PANEL AFTER THE MANNER OF DU CERCEAU — Order in apparent disorder. 2. BORDER IN THE MANNER OF FLOTNER — Example of comparatively important frame. 3. ROMAN PAVEMENT — In which is shown the development of a geometric diaper into a more, important scheme of ornament. 4. GREEK BORDER — Instance of simple and very formal treatment. 5. DIAPER — Schemed to fit a panel. 6. STAIRCASE PANELLING — Illustrating the difficulty of adapting ornament to panels of such different dimen- sions. 7. PAINTED DOOR — Showing the influence of the propor- tions of the panels upon the design of the decoration. 8. BOOKCOVER OF xvira CENTURY— Illustrating the use of border within border. 9. PANEL — Invaded by ornament springing from the border. 10. INTERLACED HENRI II. BOOKCOVER — In which a border line is suggested. 11. PANEL — In which the border is inseparable from the filling. X List of Plates. 12. PANEL— In which the filling breaks over the border, in the Japanese manner. 13. PANEL — In which the border is invaded by the field. 14. INLAY, AFTER BOULE — In which the border, so to speak, loses itself. 15. FREE DESIGN — Which by the orderly arrangement ot the parts constitutes itself a border. 16. BROKEN BORDERS — Showing various ways of breaking them. 17. INLAID PANEL — Showing a break in the border, and the suspension of the principal ornamental feature. 18. CARTOUCHE, AFTER JOST AMMAN — A very free treat- ment of the frame. 19. PANEL — With medallion, &c. 20. PATTERN — In which the detail is grouped so as to give medallion shapes not otherwise marked. 21. DIAPER — Not schemed with reference to the panel it fills. 22. PANEL IN NIELLO — With geometric diapers disposed in eccentric Japanese fashion. ' 23. JAPANESE VASE DECORATION— An instance of stripes. 24. DOORS — One-sided scheme accounted for by the position of lock plates. 25. PART OF CABINET — In which the construction has sug- gested the scheme of ornament. 26. LACQUER BOX — In which the artist takes the whole object for his field. List of Plates. xi 27. DOOR DECORATION — In which the larger panelis broken up, to bring it more into scale with the smaller panels. 28. CARVED DADO— With square panel shapes within the panels. 29. DESIGN — In which the borders are interrupted. 30. DOOR — In which the disproportion of the panels is recti- fied by borders supplementary to the mouldings. 31. PANEL — Where the borders round a central medallion interrupt the borders of the panel itself. 32. SUBDIVI SIGNS — Each with its own ornamental filling. 33. PANEL — Eccentrically cut in two. 34. BROKEN SURFACE — Japanese diaper without repeat. 35. STENCILLED ROOF DECORATION — Designed in cross bands to correct the parallel lines of the joists. 36. DIAGRAMS — Explanatory of the subdivision of the circle. 37. OLD GLASS — Showing interlacing or overlaying of shapes. 38." PANELS — Jointly symmetrical. THE PLANNING OF ORNAMENT; I. INTRODUCTORY. ' The Anatomy of Pattern ' concerned itself with the lines on which repeated pattern is built. It is proposed in this second text- book of the series to discuss the order in which ornament not necessarily recurring may be distributed. And it will not be diffi- cult! to show that, illimitable as those lines may at first sight appear to be, they too allow themselves to be classed pretty definitely ; and, moreover, that the classes are not by any means so numerous as might be supposed. The first step in design, or rather the preliminary, to all design, is to determine the lines on which it shall be distributed — to plan it, that is to say. The more clearly the designer realises to himself the lines on which it is open to him to B 2 The Planning of Ornament. proceed, the better ; and if it can be shown (as it can) that these are, comparatively speaking, few and simple, so much the easier will* it be for him to make up his mind promptly and determinedly which of them he will in any given case adopt. The shape of the actual space to be filled will oftentimes determine for him, more or less, the distribution of his design. That is to say, it may very likely render certain schemes altogether unavailable, and perhaps even limit his choice to a single plan ; but at his very freest he is limited, in the nature of things, to certain methods of procedure presently to be defined. Plainly it would be out of the question to discuss at length the relation of every possible plan to every possible shape. I purpose, therefore, to take the simple parallelogram (which may stand for panel, page, floor, ceiling, carpet, curtain, wall, window, door, fagade, no matter what), and to show the possibilities with regard to the distribution of ornament over its surface. It will then remain only to explain how the same princi- ples apply, no matter what the shape to be filled. The Use of the Border. II. The Use of the Border. Given a panel to be filled, how is this to be done ? There are two very obvious ways of going to work,~ either of which, to the sophisticated modern at all events, seems equally natural. You may start as well from the centre as from the edge of it. That is to say, you may boldly attack the centre and let your design spread outwards to the margin ; or you may begin with a border and creep cautiously inwards. When once the border is defined, the space within remains to be treated. Theoretically, indeed, you have only reduced the area over which your composition is to be distributed. But practically that is not quite so ; more especially if the border be of any importance. For a border may be of such interest that nothing further is needed, and the centre of the panel is best undisturbed by ornament. Especially may this be so if the material in B 2 4 The Planning of Ornament. use be in itself of some intrinsic interest. It is distinctly not desirable to mar the surface of beautiful wood or richly varied marble with. added ornament. And, for example, with the cabinet maker it resolves itself pretty generally (unless he should once in a while mean to indulge in ultra lavish enrichment), into a question of whether he shall enrich his panels or the mouldings bordering them. The proportion of a border is of more importance to a scheme of design than might be supposed. It makes all the difference whether it is simple or elaborate in character. A very deep rich border has such an entirely different effect from a moderately simple one, that it looks something like a different treat- ment altogether. Compare Plates 2, 3, and 4, and ,see what a different part the border plays in each. The ornament ^on Plate 2 might appropriately enrich a page of text : that, on Plate 4 requires obviously some more substantial filling. The strength of the border goes for something as well as its depth. Borders may easily be so schemed (and should be so schemed) as to give panels of proportions calculated to allow of the decora- tion proposed for them. If, for instance, a n^late 2, O.CFUMilVAL ST H0i.tOHM^.f oblate 3 9lat( J AieTiiian,Ehoto-litli Londi The Use of the Border. 5 panel is to be filled with a diaper, arrange- ment should be made, as in Plate 5, for the " repeat " of the pattern within it. If it is to contain a figure or a figure subject, it should bie of a proportion and size not too difficult to occupy with a figure or figure subject. In the case of an isolated panel, this is perhaps of less importance — the artist ought to be equal to the occasion — but in the case of a series of panels to be treated in accord, the problem is made infinitely more difficult when they are of all manner of shapes and sizes. It is no easy matter to scheme even the simplest ornament into panels of such widely different shapes and sizes as occur in the section of a staircase on Plate 6. Awkward framing enough, it may be said ; but it is with such framing that the decorator has only too frequently to deal. Again in Plate 7 the necessity of accommodating one's ornament to shapes so unequal as the panels of the door, has obviously to a considerable extent controlled the design. But for those small upper panels, it would never have occurred to one to break up the longer panels in that way. 6 The Planning of Ornament. There is a salon in the palace at Fontaine- bleau in which the proportions of the panel- ling prove to be due almost entirely to the painter, who has brought the larger panels into scale with the smaller by means of a series of borders within the actual mouldings. It is much less trouble of course for the joiner, when he has an awkward space to panel, to determine the width of the stiles, and let the panels come as they may. But a very little consideration on his part would save the decorator, who comes after him, an infinity of pains. And though it may be the •business of the decorator to get over difficul- ties of the sort, his work is not so easy that there is any occasion to put difficulties in his way. The stiles which frame a panel may be con- sidered as its border ; the mouldings again, are so many borders within borders. A border which is made up of many lines really constitutes a series of borders one within the other. The use of border within border as a deliberate scheme of ornament is common enough, as was the case in certain tooled bookbindings of the seventeenth cen- tury, one of which is represented on Plate 8. oblate 3. . 5''' HOLI0nN,C 9late 6, g.r.iini,PN*Ts-Lmio.a.n)RMimL » itouaN«,B.a The Use of the Border, 7 You may even add border to border until the whole field is occupied. It is not altogether uncommon in Renaissance cabinet-work to find the panel encroached upon by border after border of mouldings until it dwindles practi- cally to nothing. The obvious and simple thing to do with a border is to keep it of one uniform and equal width. But such equality of width is by no means essential You may see in mediaeval illuminations the effect, more or less satisfac- tory, of emphasising two sides of the page. Nor need the border necessarily be continued all round the space at all. Curtains have often a border on two sides only, and some- times only on one, marking what one may call the lips of the hangings. You may look upon the architrave of a door as a border on three sides of it only. And in the same way a mantelpiece partly frames the fire-grate, the fender completing the scheme. A certain reasonableness is the most complete justifica- tion of such partial bordering. Every frame is a border. No matter how irregular the shape of it may be, a frame's a frame " for a' that." It may take the archi- tectural form of cornice, pilasters, and dado. 8 The Planning of Ornament. or it ' may be arched ; and in either casg the architectural members are but unequal borders. All this applies, it need scarcely be said, not only to an architectural picture frame, but to architecture itself, and to whatever may be framed. Something like a new departure occurs when the border, so to speak, invades the field or centre of the panel, as it very often does in French Renaissance work, sometimes to such an extent that little or no further decoration of the field is necessary. There is an indication of such trespass in Plate 9, where the "swag" and corner ornam^ents, which belong to the border, cut boldly across the face of the panel. In sqme of the inter-, lacing strap work of the Henri II, period (the French equivalent to our Elizabethan ornament), you cannot always clearly tell where the border begins and ends, or even whether a border was intended at all. It looks sometimes as if the designer had started with the notion of a border, but had allowed it so to encroach upon the field, or the field upon it, that in the end it is not at all clearly recognisable as such. An example of the kind occurs in Plate 10, You may ?late 9. ^^^ Iffl iHiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimniiii e r mu,»Hafi>-iTrMO.«.ru">*iv«. ■-' holiohh, opiate 10. fi.F KCLI., PHOTO-UTHO.a.FUHNiVAL ST HOLgOHN, ^late 11. 'PmOTO-Timt" iiyJirnrE Akirm.c The Use of the Border. g see the idea of a border here ; but you cannot be quite so certain that the designer intended it. Nearly allied to this is another variety of border, also devised so as to be quite in- separable from the filling ; in which, in fact, frame and filling are so ingeniously mixed up, that but for the emphasis of colour, the effect would be confused. There is an instance of this in Plate ii, where the scroll, whilst to some extent acknowledging the boundary line, invades, and indeed entirely occupies, the border. In such a case there is at all events no fear of the exceeding preciseness which is one of the dangers to beware of in border design. It is interesting to notice the difference between the last-mentioned method and the practice of the Japanese, who will, in the most unhesitating manner, allow the panel pattern, whatever it may be, to break over the margin or border, just as the impulse prompts. It is a proceeding which may or may not result in confusion, according to the relative strength of the border and the pattern that cuts across it. In Plate 12 the border pattern is so subdued that the more important floral growtli is very lo The Planning of Ornament. well able to take care of itself. In the case of a panel in which the enrichment only partially occupies the ground, it is often advisable to introduce a subsidiary border, losing itself behind such more prominent enrichment. One appreciates the freak of the Japanese as a relief from the monotony of absolutely formal disposition; but it is not a thing to indulge in very freely. It is refreshing to see that a man is not afraid of infringing occasionally upon the margin — on sufficient grounds ; but the licence needs always to be justified by some excuse other than the artist's impatience of order. We have to be on our guard against a certain spirit of anarchy which appears to have taken posses- sion of so many a modern artist. There is a class (one cannot call it properly a school) which will repudiate, not only all the laws of art, but the need of all law whatsoever. Urgent need there may be of reform in our ideas of art, perhaps even of revolution ; but sobriety recognises in the artistic anarchist only the enemy of art. There is no peculiar sanctity implied in a margin, that it should be held inviolate ; but 91at6 12. 'PhsTO'TiHt" by JiniBA Akarman fPlate 13 t.f KtLi.rHDta-uTNO.t.ruimivAL >t ifOL*aiw,c.o 91ate H, 'PHOTtt-TlMr! by JamcH Akanii*!] The Use of the Border. 1 1 the very idea of ornament implies order. And the artist cannot afford to be forgetful of order, even when he allows his border to overgrow the field, or his filling pattern to extend beyond the frame. There was a fashion in vogue in the seven- teenth and eighteenth centuries — borrowed probably from the East— according to which the border is invaded rather by the field or ground than by the pattern on it ; where the field, in fact, seems to eat into the border. It is usually, as you may observe in Plate 13, rather a symmetrical mouthful that it takes. A border may be lost in a sort of confusion with the panel it began by pretending to enclose. No one ever managed that more cleverly than Boulle, a panel of whose design is given in Plate 14. There is considerable ingenuity in the way in which the pattern is made to appear alternately light on dark and dark on light, without actually confining such alternation within strict border lines. But a border remains a border, however undefined. Boundaries may be understood rather than expressed. Yet that makes no difference as to the lines upon which a design is constructed. You may discard the very idea of formality ; 1 2 The Planning of Ornament. you may determine that you will have none of it ; that you will merely sketch upon your page such and such marginal forms, natural or ornamental. But if you dispose them in any- thing like an orderly manner, you arrive at something which comes as clearly under the category of border treatment as though it had been enclosed by hard and fast boundary lines. The boys and ribands on Plate 15 form after all a border. Every margin or marginal line is in its degree a border. The white margin of this printed page borders the type. In Indian and other Oriental work you often see the orna- mental details so closely packed as to define the border-shape even without actual boun- dary lines. And the Germans of the sixteenth century (Jost Amman, for example) sometimes did with very different details just the same thing. The looser borders of the looser time of Louis XIV., XV., XVI., do everything they can to hide the lines of their construction ; but you may take it as a sign of artistic demoralisation to be afraid of a straight line. Hogarth, who preached "the line of beauty," was not exactly an apostle of the beautiful. So great is the use of the border, that even Tlate 15. *PHSTa-T ^(^ ^(5- t^ i'^ t^ •ih 1^ -ir srararasK a-LiTHs.t.FumtvAi VTHoi.*oHN,c o a^la.te2^. ' ^iiillliiil'iU'JilillllMtllMllJ TliVr^ laraQSniE :]i:|l!lW!ii^..|!';!!i:!:'i.il':i;"l!l|illU^^n oFoia i f)era.1clic ipcomple+c or ooe- sided Q.r.KtLL. rHOTO-LITHO.B.FUnKIVAL «T HDnOHH.C.a Within the Border. i i of all times instances of a treatment where the design is manifestly " to be continued in our next," the side unseen being necessary to its symmetrical completeness. Further exampl^ of the same thing occur in the mediaeval cabinet doors given in Plate 24. The need of clasps, hinges, and so forth, no doubt gave the hint of such a manner, which, in spite of the one-sided forms it gives, is wholly satisfactory in effect. We do not sufficiently realise how readily the mind makes good what the eye does not see in design ; assuming, that is to say, a certain workmanlike reasonableness in it. In Plate 25 (which is only one half of a cabinet) the design is in a very remarkable degree the outcome of the constructional idea. It was the locks and hinges that gave the artist his cue. It is worth while to compare the above- mentioned scheme, in which the symmetry is suggested rather than expressed, with the free and easy way in which the Japanese lacquer- worker will overrun the limits of a box top or cabinet front, and trail his ornament over all or any of its sides indiscriminately. The 22 The Planning of Ornament. front of the box is not enough for the dragon on Plate 26. Yet you will observe that there is a certain consideration for ornamental pro- priety in the disposition, for example, of the creature's claws. There also, the artist, in his very different fashion, chooses to consider the whole object his, field, and not just the portion of it he sees before him. There is a certain logic in. his lice.nce, too ; but the more restrained manner of the mediaeval workman is, in proportion to its restraint, the more to be preferred. Where the design — scroll, foliage, or what- ever it may be — bears no relation at all to the shape or space it occupies, like the diapers on Plates 21 and 34; it ceases to be surface design, and is merely a. means of breaking the surface, It is only as a background that suchhap-hazard distribution of forms hag any meaning. But then a good deal of decorative design, pretends to be no more than back- ground. A v^ry satisfactoiy and effective result is sometimes reached where the artist starts, as it seems, with the idea of a diaper, more or less geometrical,, and, as he approaches the centre of the panel, gathers together the n^l ate 25. ■ ■r.lllU,tHOTB1ate 51. tP(?tP<0(?G>g>C>.olf«>Ai^^^ ,^1ate 32. 'Pmoto -Tint, iy J«me» Alc«r Some Alternatives in Design. 29 pursuit for any one who is really alive. Only a man should look before he leaps into danger. "Erst wagen, dann wagen," is the pithy way Count Moltke's motto puts it ; which might be paraphrased " Weigh before you wager," When the artist starts from the beginning, and 'the scheme of design rests entirely in his own hands, it is not so difficult to determine just what is fit. The scheme develops itself. But in, the more frequent case, in which the art of the ornamentist is only supplementary, and he has to^ work, as he usually has, upori lines already laid down for him, it is only where those lines are worth preserving that he is necessarily bound to preserve them — assuming, that is, that he can obliterate them. This is heterodox, but none the less true. If the lines existing are bad, and he can by his design withdraw attention from them to lines more reposeful to the eye, he is doing good work. Only he should do nothing but what he can make seem right. There must be no appearance of awkwardness, no suspicion of effort about it. It is a case in which success alone justifies the attack upon the situation. To fail is to lay yourself open to the charge 30 The Planning of Ornament. of the unpardonable sin, the sin of disobedience to the conditions of design. Ah actually hctp-hazard or eccentric scheme of composition, such as a Japanese will somer times affect, is hardly in contradiction to what I have laid down. When a Japanese artist cuts a panel quaintly into two, after the manner of Plate 33, and treats each part of it as seems good to his queer mind, he is only doing what the Greek did when he cut off a portion of his wall space, and treated it as a frieze ; though he does it more energetically, not to say spasmodically, and with less appreciation of grace. So, again, when the said Japanese strews buds and blossoms about a box top, and breaks up the ground between with conven- tional, though very accidental, lines of crackle, as on Plate 34, or when he crams all manner of geometric diapers into a panel, as oft Plate 22, he is only doing in a more eccentric manner what the European artist does, with greater regard for symmetry. When he disposes his sprigs or what not on a geometric basis. If only he arrive at balance, which he almost invariably does (so little is his instinct in this respect likely to err), there is no occasion to ^late 35. 'Photo -Ti«tI ky J"">'-- Alti Some Alternatives in Design. 31 cry out against him. We, on our part, are perhaps too much disposed to design as though there were no possible distinction between symmetry and balance, between bulk and value — as though the little leaden weight did not balance the heaped-up pound of fruit, or feathers in the scale. Design apparently quite unrestrained, such as the men of the Renaissance habitually indulged in, proves very often, upon exami- nation, to be constructed upon one or other of the systems I have described. Sometimes, indeed, the system of construction is very frankly indicated, though not precisely de- fined — the confession, that is to say, is full enough to ensure absolution for any offence there may be against strict order. On Plate i there is blotted in a panel of ornament somewhat on the lines of Androuet du Cerceau, in which the central feature is an echo of the medallion treatment, whilst certain vertical and horizontal lines recall, however vaguely, the notion of a border. Such reminiscences of severely constructional lines give additional charm, as it seems to me, to design otherwise fanciful, and even fantastic in character. It is as though a man said in 32 The Planning of Ornament. his design, almost in so many words : I claim my freedom, but I have some lingering respect for law and order. Except on the very minutest scale, the scope of subdivision possible with regard to a space, is not affected by the amount of ornament introduced, nor by its character. No matter whether it be, human or animal figure that you employ, conventional or natural foliage, scroll or growth, interlace- ment, arabesque, or geometric pattern, the possibilities in the way of distribution are the same. Naturally, however, certain lines of sub- division will be found to accord with certain kinds of treatment ; and so we find that, as a matter of history, the Mohammedans adopted certain lines of composition, the Greeks other lines, and the Japanese quite others again, and so on. Furthermore, the lines one would instinc- tively choose for different purposes would themselves be different. One would scarcely proceed to decorate a panel by merely cross- ing it with bands, of ornament, as on Plate 23, except perhaps in the case of some long strip of a panel which it was absolutely necessary n^late34. r. KELl, rHOTO-llTHD.e.rURNIVAL ST HOUIOHN.C Some Alternatives in Design. ■ 33 to shorten. There is a case in point given on Plate 35, where the disproportionate, though constructionally very proper, length of the panels of a roof is mitigated by the band-wise arrangement of the stencilled ornament. A similar system was found by the Greeks to be the most satisfactory way of dealing with draperies. Their pet idea of decorating a full skirt seems to have been by means of so many parallel patterns. You have only to refer to the terra-cottas at the British Museum to see both of these uses illustrated, often in a single vase. What one would do, then, is not the same thing as what might be done. The possi- bility, as distinguished from the expediency, of distribution, is in all cases much the same. But there must necessarily be some correspon- dence between detail and its distribution. For all that, there is no cut and dried rule as to the association of this kind of detail with that kind of distribution, or vice versd. It does not even follow that the descrip- tion of detail usually found in connection with a certain order of composition is the only detail appropriate to it. The connection of the one with the other is evidence only of D 34 The Planning of Ornament. their conformity, not at all of the incohgru-r ity of other combinations. It is just possible to fry without bread-crumbs. Is it not chiefly laziness (where it is not a suspicion of our own incompetence) which tempts us to adopt bodily what has already been found to suc- ceed? There are so many people in the world to whom it comes easier to take what there is than to give what is theirs. A design is in harmony, not when it is strictly according to Greek or Gothic prece- dent, but when the parts all fit. Suppose, for instance, the lines in a compo- sition lead up to some prominent feature, that feature must be of sufficient interest to justify the attention it attracts. There are positions so prominent they almost demand figure design properly to occupy them. Such central features as those in Plates i, 1 8, and 31 are bound in consistency to be of more importance than their surroundings, I don't mean to say that an hei-aldic shield like that on Plate 18 is essentially of pro^; foundest interest ; but in the eyes of its owner at least it is worthy of all proininence. In like manner also, if it is proposed to introduce the figure, or anything of that ^late 35. ii^mii III ii^ma ill 4.uim;i lilll U4i:uii ii::ii::ii::ii tIMIIHHKB frmm II ;; II!! II an 11!! II!! II!! II ^-S)-^ Sm i ^ II a! II!! II!! II ii::ii::ii::ii it!:ii::ii!:ii ii!:ii::ii!:ii ii::ii::ii::ii Some Alternatives in Design. 35 importance, it is only natural to provide for it in your scheme, whether in the shape of medallion, frame, niche, or what not. The gem of your design should have a setting worthy of it. Any feature, such as a tablet, medallion, label, cartouche, shield, and so on, introduced into a composition, should bear relation not only to its surroundings, but to what it is to enclose. This is a serious consideration very often neglected. It is no uncommon thing to see a shield introduced to bear an inscription, a circular medallion to frame a picture which demands a rectangular outline, and all manner of queerly proportioned shapes, which by their very positioh call for decoration, whilst, at the same time, it is almost impossible to fill them satisfactorily. Upon the same principle of fitness, a pre- determination to adopt natural forms of foliage would, artistically speaking, necessitate the choice of a not too formal franiework for it. Detail designed on a large scale would call for equal breadth and simplicity in the setting out. So with regard to the allotment of orna- ment — once the lines determined, the artist D 2 36 The Planning of Ornament. must scheme his ornament accordingly. Whether he elect to ornament every portion of the surface, as the Orientals and the artists of the Early Renaissance often do, or certain selected parts only, like the Greeks, whether he chose to decorate many parts or few, and which parts, and how — that is his affair. His taste must be his guide in that ; and unless he have some taste he had better not attempt to design. This may sound like discouragement ; but the beginner who is easily discouraged may as well be made aware at once of the difficulties in his way. The lukewarm may as well be warned off. Orna- ment is not one of those easy things a man may take up for a livelihood, pending fame as a painter. Success in ornament implies devotion to it. On the Filling of the Circle, &c. 2)7 V. On the Filling of the Circle and OTHER Shapes. Having discussed so far the various lines on which ornament may be distributed over a simple panel or parallelogram, I propose now to show how the same principles apply to the covering of all manner of shapes. Evidently it makes little difference at all, and in principle none whatever, whether it is four sides of a figure we have to deal with, or three, or five, or how many. In either case you proceed in the same way ; you work from the centre or from the sides, as best may suit ; you divide your space into regular or irregular compartments, on the systems already ex- plained ; you overlay one feature with another, or interweave this with that ; you interrupt a border, or encroach upon a field, according to the circumstances of the case ; and so on, just as though it were a square shape you were dealing with. 38 The Planning of Ornament. In the case of anything like an awkward ^hape, you have even an opportunity of correcting it, by introducing into it some pro- minent regular figure, which, if you insist upon it, will occupy attention, whilst the irregular surrounding space will go only for margin or border ; just as in the case of the regular panel you had the option of discounting its severity through the agency of any irregular feature it seemed good to you to insert. The management of the circular shape, and of the irregular forms of vases, seems to present a more serious difficulty; but it is more apparent than real. The simple treatment of a vase is (i) ac- cording to its elevation, as may be seen in any striped Venetian glass, or (2) according to its plan, as exemplified in the rude earthen- ware of every period. The glass-blower falls, in fact, as naturally into the one scheme of lines as the thrower or turner into the other. A third way is to cross the shape diago- nally, which gives the appearance of twisting, to be seen very often in silversmith's work. Two or more of these systems may be asso- ciated ; and they often are ; as in so many a' On the Filling of the Circle, &c.. 39 German tankard of the fifteenth or sixteenth century, where the bulbous bowl is beaten out into the semblance of a melon, and the neck and foot take the lines of the lathe. Now the decoration of a vase lengthwise, according to its elevation, corresponds to the striping of a panel with vertical lines ; the decoration bandwise, according to plan, cor- responds to the striping of a panel with hori- zontal lines ; and the twisted treatment corresponds to a series of diagonal lines crossing a panel. The way in which medallions, panels, and other shapes may be incorporated with the design of a vase is not different from that already set forth. There is, however, this difficulty, that any marked independent shape is likely to interfere with the form of the vase, or the form of the vase to distort it, which is the way with the landscape and picture medal- lions so persistently misapplied to Sevres and Dresden china. Not that it is at all im- possible to introduce such features with good effect; only it needs to be done with judg- ment, which of all things is most rare. And, as it happens, the difficulty has been more often attacked with valour than with that 40 The Planning of Ornament. discretion which is reputed to be its better part. What is said with reference to the vase shape* applies equally to balusters, columns, and cylindrical shapes generally. When we come to the circular shape, as of coins, plates, medallions and so on, its decoration involves new forms rather than new principles. The circle is most naturally divided either into rays or into, rings. In the one case the radiating lines may be said to answer to the division of a rectangular space by vertical lines ; in the other the rings would answer to the' horizontal lines dividing a panel.' A reference to Plate 36 will make this more clear. Imagine a series of upright lines (A) to re- present the folding of a sheet of paper. You have only to gather the folds together at one end, after the manner of a fan (B), and you have the system of radiation. Repeat the fan shapes side by side, and you soon arrive at a circle divided into rays (C). Again, in the case of a series of horizontal bands (D), you have only to suppose them elastic enough to be bent, and you have a series of concentric arcs (E), so many slices,' ablate 36, 1,1pn^bt A 1?a.dia.i-iiT^ ^ ivi&ior)5 ec]tiivAf^9l"fo J^ttice-work ^ eauiv&lent f b divisiiona. B f e r XCU, rHOTO-LltHD.C.milNIVAI. ■• KOLIOHH.C C On the Filling of the Circle, &c. 41 so to speak, out of a circle decorated ring- wise (F). The identical target-like result may be arrived at by the continuation of a series of borders round the circle, one within the other. That is only another way of reaching the same point in design. As in the case of pattern planning ('Anatomy of Pattern,' pages 19 and 22), one comes by various lines of thought to the same conclusion. The crossing of the two schemes (G) is much the same thing as a square lattice of cross lines in a rectangular panel. The sub- division of the circular space by lines of more flowing character (H) would correspond to the division of the panel by diagonal lines. And if those lines were crossed (J), it would be analogous to the division of the square by cross lines into diamonds. The spiral line, as applied to the decoration of the circle (K), is equivalent to the fret or key pattern as applied to the square (L). These analogies, I think, are plain enough. They were suggested to me by Mr. Henri Mayeux's 'La Composition decorative' (A. Quantin, Paris), to which the student may refer for more ample illustration of the subject. All manner of independent shapes may be 42 The Planning of Ornament. introduced into the decoration of the circle, as into that of the panel. One may plant a shield in the centre, and surround it with a borders one may associate any arbitrary form with ringed or radiating lines. But should any such shape form an important feature in the design, the situation is not so free from danger. There is a limit, that is to say, to the arbitrari- ness with which prominent lines or forms may judiciously be introduced into a circular design. Anything which counteracts the space you have to fill needs to be accounted for. The difficulty in dealing with forms con- tradictory one to another is, that you are apt to leave interspaces of irregular shape, which are not easily manageable ; as for instance, in the inevitable spandril which occurs so fre- quently in architecture. If a spandril happen to be very large you can insert into it a more symmetrical shape, which will hold its own ; and if it be insignificantly small, you may ignore it. You may (where it is of import- ance enough to be accepted as an individual panel) treat it as such, with figures, scroll, and so on. You may simply cover it with an unimportant pattern in the nature of a diaper, or leave it blank. These are the On the Filling of the Circle, &c. 43 extremes : the happy mean in spandril deco- ration is not easy to find. The spandril may be taken as typical of all the many awkward shapes which come of the intersection of curved lines by straight. Ornamental design would be a very much easier thing if we had only to consider the lines of the ornament, without any regard to the interspaces. From the circle to the rosette, or cusped circle, is so short a step, that the treatment of such shapes goes almost without further saying. The cusps seem almost to call for acknowledgment by lines radiating towards them. Indeed, if you simply carry a series of borders, one within the other, round the cusps, the points where they meet will give of themselves radiating lines; just as in the case of the vandyke or zigzag (' Anatomy of Pattern,' p. 9) it was shown that the re- curring points gave vertical cross lines. The pentagon, hexagon, and other equal- sided polygonal figures may be considered as broken circles. The triangle offers no new difficulty. It is merely a case of three sides to deal with instead of four. 44 The Planning of Ornament. A branched form may be resolved into its elements. The Greek cross, for example, may be; regarded as an assemblage of five squares ; the Latin cross as a group of as many as you please, according to the length of its arms, or as four parallelograms arranged round a square. An altogether exceptional space will be pretty sure to indicate of itself the exceptional lines on which it can best be decorated j and a capricious one may well be left to the caprice of the artist. Order and Accident. 45 VI. Order and Accident, Entirely apart from the question of the skeleton of a design, is the consideration as to whether it shall be looked at primarily from the point of view of line or of mass. In any satisfactorily completed scheme, lines and masses must alike have been taken into account; but the artist must begin with one ,or the other ; and the result will probably be influenced by the one or other consideration which was uppermost in his mind. Which of the two it may happen to be, is more often a matter of temperament . than of choice with him. The primary consideration, whether of line or mass, will always lead the designer, though perhaps unconsciously, to adopt a plan' accord- ingly. That is to say, the preference for mass will lead him to attack his panel resolutely, planting shapes upon it, which it will be his business afterwards to connect by means of 46 The Planning of Ornament. the subsidiary lines needful to the completion of the scheme. On the other hand, a greater partiality for line will induce him to have recourse to a more orderly procedure; will, perhaps, even suggest a geometric ground- work, which, however far he may depart from the first lines, will materially help him in securing the object he has most at heart. If you start with certain arbitrary and irregular forms, arbitirarily and irregularly disposed, so many patches, as one may say, on the panel, it is clearly not such, a very easy matter to connect them by any systematic lines of ornament. If, on the contrary, you begin with a system of orderly lines, these must neces- sarily determine in some measure the shape and distribution of any more prominent features you may thereafter introduce into the scheme. For my own part (whilst I disbelieve entirely in arriving at anything more than flat mediocrity by the adoption of set rules of proportion), I feel rather strongly that there should be by rights a strict relation between the parts of a design, however little it may be obvious. If, for example, there is a space to fill between border and central medallion, a diaper may be enough ; but the diaper n^-'lale 37. r KSI.L, PHOTo-LiTHO.a.ruHHivAL s^ hoi.*ohn,e.o Order and Accident. 47 should be designed into its space. And even if part of a design be permitted to disappear, as it were, behind this feature or that, it should be so schemed that no very material form is mutilated in the process. Where an interrup- tion occurs in a border the pattern should be planned with a view to such interruption. Even though you deliberately adopt a diaper, say as background to a scroll, the character of that diaper should be determined by the scroll, notwithstanding that the lines of the one are meant to contradict the lines of the other. The cultivated artistic sense is by no means satisfied with the casual employment of any diaper. Again, where one feature of the design is overlaid by another, as frequently happens in Early Gothic, glass, the overlapping patterns should be designed (as they always were) to overlap. The spaces between one series of medallions should suggest the outlines of the subordinate medallions between, which should be shaped with a view to the proposed inter- ruption — ^just as the interlacing shapes in the (not very Early) window figured on Plate 37 are schemed with a view to their entanglement. The careless overlaying of one pattern, or of 48 The Planning of Ornament. one scheme, by another, is the merest make^ shift for design. The apparently " accidental " treatment, when it is at . all successful, is not quite so much a matter of accident after all. You will find invariably, if you inquire into it, that there has been no disregard of the laws of composition,- but only the omission of some accustomed ceremonial. To take what might seem a flagrant instance of the disregard of an obvious rule of art : — an artist like BouUe would sometimes boldly treat the doors of a cabinet as one panel, notwithstanding their actual separation by a pilaster between them. However wicked this may be in theory, his practice proved it to be not so unsatisfactory. And for this reason — that the upright inter- vening space was, as a matter of fcict, very carefully taken into account in the design. He only goes a step further than the obviously permissible treatment shown in the double panel on Plate 38, where the two one- sided panels are jointly symmetrical. BouUe chose to make a constructive feature less em- phatic than its position would have suggested to most of us it should be. But he did not really ignore it. Very far from it. Had he n^Iale ^8, IIBmssnall i<&i'>.«- ^y>T)n7etricd,1 B.r Riii.rHaTo-uTm.m.FumiivAi st mLiaiiM,e □ Order and Accident. 49 disregarded the construction, the error would have been very perceptible. If he succeeded at all in satisfying the eye, it is because he did with great deliberation and judgment what might easily be mistaken by the inex- perienced for an inconsiderate thing. Giants can afford to be daring. It is when dangerous liberties are taken by the novice, without forethought and without discrimination, that they become offensive. When there is no offence in the lapse from what we had thought a wise rule, be sure it was designed, and designed with more than ordinary skill. It is only a master that can reconcile us to something which, until he did it, we did not think could properly be done. There is nothing careless or casual in the art of design — not even in the little art of orna- ment. LONDON : PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS. Nffv. 1887. WORKS ON DECORATIVE ART PUBLISHED BY B. T. BATSFQKD, 52, HIGH HOLBOEN, LONDON. MB. SAY'S TEXT BOOKS OF OBNAUENTAI DESIGN. I. The Anatomy of Pattern. Illustrated with 35 full-page Illustrations. Crown 8vo, cloth, 3^. dd. II. The Planning of Ornament. Illustrated with 38 full-page Illustrations. Crown 8vo, cloth, 3^. dd. Every Day Art : Short Essays on the Arts not Fine By Lewis Foreman Day, Author of " Instances of Accessory Art," &c. With upwards of 100 illustrations, chiefly by the Author, crown 8vo, cloth, gilt, 7j. 6d. s. 6d. each Book ; or the set of two, 12s. net. Art Foliage for Sculpture and Decoration. By Jas. K. Colling. Second Edition, Enlarged and Revised, containing. 81 plates, with letterpress and numerous woodcuts. Royal 4to, cloth, iSir. .Examples of English Medicetal Foliage and Coloured Decoration., By Jas. K. CoLLtNG. Taken from Buildings of the Twelfth to the Fifteenth Century, 76 lithographic plates, and 79 woodcut illustra- tion^, with text. Royal 4to, cloth, gilt top, lis. Flat Ornament : a Pattern Book for Designers of Textiles, Embroideries, Wall Papers, Inlays, &c., &c. ly) plates, some printed in Colours, exhibiting upwards of 500 Examples of Textiles, Embroideries, Paper ^Hangings, Tile Pavements, Intarsia Work, Tapes- tries, Bookbindings/ Surface Ornaments from Buildings, &c., &c., collected from Various Museums, Churches, Mosques, &c., &c,, with some Original Designs for Textile and other Ornament by Dr. Fischbach, Giraud, and others. Imperial 4to, in portfolio, 25^. Examples, of Ancient and Modem Furniture, Metal . Work, Tapestries, Decoration, Gfc. By B. J. Talbert, Architect, Author of " Gothic Forms applied to Furniture and Decoration." 21 plates, with Description, &c., folio, doth, 32^. net. Original Sketches for Art Furniture : By A. Jonquet, A Series of Designs for^ Modem Furniture in the Jacobean, Queen Anne, Adam, Chippendale, and Sheraton Styles, illustrated in I43_ Designs on 65 lithographic plates, exhibiting Examples of Drawing Room, Dining Room, Bedroom, and Hall Furniture, Chimney-Pieces, &c. Imperial 4to, cloth, 25J. Motifs for Panels and other Decorations : Twenty'' photo-lithographic plates, exhibiting a great variety of Designs in the Japanesque and other Styles. By John Ward. Imperial 410, bound, \2s. 6d.