Anatomy of Pattern

IT"
'T^ E^^CT, 5 O O K^ r
nRNA/AENTAL,
THE.
ANATO/A"
OF
PATTERN
Cornell University Library
arV18093
The anatomy
of pattern
/
3 1S9A 031 236 114
Cornell University Library
The
original of
tliis
book
is in
the Cornell University Library.
There are no known copyright
restrictions in
text.
the United States on the use of the
http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924031236114
TEXT BOOKS OF ORNAMEi^TAL DESIGN.
By
lewis
F.
day
THE ANATOMY OF PATTERN.
TEXT BOOKS
OF
ORNAMENTAL
DESIGN.
By lewis
F.
day.
THE DISTRIBUTION OF ORNAMENTAL DESIGN

WILL BE READY SHORTLY.
^la-te
Construction, of German Gotlpic

'Tracery 'Pattern &
TEXT BOOKS OF ORNAMENTAL DESIGN.
THE
ANATOMY OF PATTERN.
BY
LEWIS
AUTHOR OF
F.
DAY,
'EVERY-DATI: ART,' ETC.
ILLUSTRATED.
B.
T.
LONDON: BATSFORD, 52, HIGH HOLBORN.

1887.
UlNilVERSiTY
-^LIBRARY
PREFACE.
There was a time
artistic
in
my own
I
struggling for
existence,
when
should have been
so grateful for any practical teaching in ornarrient,
that I fancy there
must be students
have
set
who
for
will find it helpful to
plainly
before
myself
them what I have had to puzzle out Hence this series of Text Books
Design
;
of
Ornamental
in
which
have
of
in
amplified
and
of
illustrated
the
substance
delivered
series
Cantor Lectures
December
I
last before the Society of Arts.
have assumed no great amount of tech-
nical or artistic
reader
only that
my
knowledge on the part of the he wants to know. And,

subject
is,
elementary as
my
have taken
effort
some pains
in'
to save
him
all
unnecessary
following
meaning.
The
illustrations are to
be taken
literally
as illustrations,
and not by any means con-
sidered as ornamental addenda to the book.
vi
Preface.
is
only as diagrams that they have any claim to insertion although, as an ornaIt
;
have naturally made the necessary diagrams as interesting as under the circummentist, I
stances was feasible.

I
have
as
tried
far
to
make each one

possible,
of
the
in
plates,
itself
;
as
explanatory
so that from the study of

I
them
alone,
apart from what
have to say, a
of
pattern
fair
idea
of
the
construction
might be
gained.
Lewis
13,
F.
Day.
Mecklenburg Square, London, W.C.
March
Tptk, 1887.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
PAGE
I.
Introductory
II. Pattern Dissection

III. Practical Pattern Planning
IV.
25
The "Drop" Pattern

Skeleton Plans
Appropriate Pattern
34
V.
VI.
40
47
DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF PLATES.

1.
THE CONSTRUCTION OF GOTHIC TRACERY PATTERNS

Showing the
square, diamond, hexagon, circular, or
is built.
other plan on which elaborate tracery

2.
THE SQUARE
lines.
Checks and other diapers

cross-lines.
built
on cross-
3.
THE LATTICE AND THE DIAMOND

&c,, built
Plaids,
zigZagS,
on
4.
FRETS, &c.
Showing
their construction
on a network
of cross-lines.
5.
ALL-OVER PATTERN Showing which it is planned.
the
cross-lines
upon
6.
THE TRIANGLE Diapers

shapes, built
of
star,
hexagon, and lozenge
up on the
lines of the equilateral triangle.
7.
THE TRIANGLE Diapers composed

triangle
of the equilateral
and
its
compounds.
8.
THE HEXAGON
Honeycomb
its
upon the hexagon and

9.
and other diapers based compound.
THE OCTAGON
Simple
octagon diapers and the lines
of their construction.
10.
ARAB LATTICE PATTERNS

laid bare.
Dissected, and their anatomy
11.
CURVILINEAR
PATTERNS
Showing
the construction
of the wave, the ogee, the net, &c.
X
12.
List of Plates.
DIAPERS OF CIRCLESWith from which they are struck.
lines
showing the points
13.
OTHER CIRCULAR DIAPER FORMS Produced by

secting circles.
inter-
14.
FREE JAPANESE DIAPER The
repetition of geometric
forms not geometrically disposed.

15.
THE SCALE PATTERN
Together with ogee, cusped, and other shapes derived from it.
16.
A STAR PATTERN
ITALIAN DAMASK
Showing
its
six
different
ways of
arriving at a simple diaper.
17.
Showing
construction
upon the
lines of the scale pattern.
18.
HENRI
II.
BOOK-COVER
Showing
result of reversing,
and again
19.
reversing, the pattern.
SOME PATTERN PLANS
Shovring (A) the square plan,

the
cross-lines
(B) the dropped parallelogram plan.

20.
SICILIAN
design
SILK
With
on which the
is built,
and the diagonal
lines it assumes.
21.
TAPESTRY OF THE XVTH CENTURY
With
the rectis
angular unit of repeat, in which the pattern over, after the manner of the weaver,
22.
turned
LATE-GOTHIC VELVET Showing horizontal effect of pattern constructed upon the lines of the ogee or
hexagon.
23.
WALL-PAPER PATTERN Shovnng Ogee

it is
lines
on which
planned.
24.
A DROP-PATTERNIn which
first
the construction
is
not at
apparent.
List of Plates.
25.
xi
which the same
MAP Showing
simple pattern
three plans,
on
either of
may be
produced. -
26.
VARIOUS DROP PATTERNS

drop according to
its
Showing
is
the effect of the
length, &c.
27.
DIAGONAL DAMASK PATTERN

tion
Showing
is
its
Construc-
on the diamond, which
not apparent.
the
28.
ARAB TILE AND LATTICE PATTERNS Showing

simple means by which intricacy
produced.
confusion
of
29.
DESIGN
forms.
Exemplifying
t'
the
intentional
30.
WALL-PAPER DESIGN
Showing a "drop" in the ornamental scroll, whilst the grotesque creatures introduced follow tke lines of the square block.
31.
PERSIAN TEXTjLE-^Showing the lines of the double square on which tae pattern is constructed, as distinct
from the
lines
it
takes.
32.
FOLIATED SCROLL
A design made
ij,
on square
lines, yet
assuming an ogee shape.

33.
ITALIAN SILK
plan.
Showing
ogee,
hexagon, or diamond
34.
SET PATTERN
Explanatory of economy in weaving.

the^
35.
DAMASK
by
On
plan of waved upright
lines,
crossed
horizontal bknds of rosettes.
ERRATA.
Page
36.
Line 14, dele from

,,
"
When "
37
2,
dele from
"But
to " upright line." " to end of paragraph.
THE
ANATOMY OF PATTERN.
I.
INTRODUCTORY.
The
tion
dictionary scarcely helps us to a defini-
of the word pattern, in the

in
somewhat
technical sense
designer.
which
it
is
used by the
Inasmuch as a pattern signifies a "specimen," one might argue that repetition is implied in ornamental pattern.
But inasmuch
imitation"
pattern,
is
as
any "shape or model

as
strictly
for
quite
speaking
one
cannot exactly define pattern as repeating
ornament.
Nevertheless, pattern mostly
petition.
face of
it
comes of reMany a pattern bears on the very the evidence that it grew directly
out of the, necessity of repetition.

It is
more than probable that some meall
chanical necessity gave rise to
geometric
The Anatomy of Pattern.

;
pattern
certainly
it
is
impossible to plait,
net, knit,
weave, or otherwise mechanically

It
make, without producing pattern.

so small, as
it
may
be
often
is
in weaving, that the
but
warp and weft are invisible to the naked eye and all that remains for us to it is there
;
do
is
to efface
it.
it
all
we
can, or to
make the
the best
best of
Out
of
it
of the determination to
make
has grown
much
to
of the most beautiful
pattern-work.
spiration,
To
neglect this source of in-
therefore,
say nothing of the
attempt to suppress
wasteful
degree.
it,
would seem to be
to
of opportunity
the
very last
The very
pattern
;
repetition of parts, then, produces
so
much
is
so,
that one
may
say
is
wherever there
pattern.
ordered repetition there

please,
Take any form you

at regular intervals,
it
and
repeat
it
and you have,
whether you want
or no, a pattern, as
surely as the recurrence of sounds will pro-
duce rhythm or cadence.
The
be
distribution of the parts
need not even
sand, the veins of marble, the grain of wood, the crystallisation of the breath upon the window-
regular.
The wave marks on the
Introductory.
panes, the curls of the hair, the very features
of the
human
So
the
face
resolve
is
themselves into
pattern.
distinctly
this last the case,
that
ornamentist
devising,
finds
lui,
is
himself
con-
tinually
malgr
patterns that
remind one of
with
faces.
There
it
even room for

not have been
danger,
or
speculation whether
may
a view of escaping
it
this
anticipating
rather, that the designer first
took to the deliberate use of those masks and

grotesque heads, which form so prominent a
feature in certain styles of ornament.
The popular
mental design
sit
idea of the process of ornais,
that the artist has only to
down
before a piece of paper, and, like a
spider, spin out the fancies that

fertile
may crowd his

is is
imagination.
all
Indeed, there
scope in
design for
his
fancy
but he
no Zeus
that ornament
should
spring,
Athena-like,
full-grown from his brain.
Ornament
is
constructed, patiently
(I will
not say laboriously, for the artist loves the

labour), patiently built
up on
lines inevitable
to
its
consistency
it
;
lines
so simple, that to the

lay bare
its
expert
is
not
difficult to
very
skeleton
and
just as the physiologist divides
the animal world, according to anatomy, into B 2
4
families

and
classes, so
the ornamentist
is
able
to classify all pattern-work according to its

structure.
Like the
scientist,
he
is
able even
all
to show the affinity between groups to
appearance dissimilar
out
and, indeed, to point-
how few
are the varieties of skeleton variety of effect

is
upon
which
all this
framed.
Before enumerating these varieties, let us
suppose for a
this is
moment
man
to imagine (and
by no means an imaginary case) that he will make to himself a repeating pattern

without regard to
its
logical construction
as
but,
though
in
skeletons.
domain there should be no That would be, from my point of

his
view, a profoundly foolish thing to
do
more than
and no
that,
it
is
impossible.
is
He may
repetition,
design a unit in which there

formality, but the
no
moment he
its
it so,
repeats
that unit,
the very order of

if I
repetition
proves to be,
in
may
call
the cupboard
will be found. might be imagined that by designing in some such haphazard fashion as I have just
It
which the skeleton
supposed, the
artist
line,
would secure to
his design
a freedom of
an absence of formality, not
readily to be obtained
systematic method.
by adopting the more But this is not by any
Introductory.
means
so.
If,
indeed, the design be of that

all
absolute
uniformity
in
it
over, that there
is
no one feature
another,
it
more pronounced than

But that
is
may
for
pass muster, notwithstanding

not to
it
the want of backbone.
claim
much
it
as a design.
And
was
scarcely worth the pains to take exceptional
measures merely to
If,
this insignificant end.
on the other hand, a design be above

it
the level of insignificance, there must be in
some dominant feature or features, which, when many times repeated, will appear more
prominent than
ever.
It is to, these features
;
that the eye will irresistibly be drawn

is
and
it
the lines
they take in relation one to

It is
another, which will assert themselves.
hardly to be expected that,

never been
if
these lines have
taken into consideration, they
should come out very satisfactorily
and, as a
matter of experience, they always come out
Every one must have suffered more or less from wall-paper, and other patterns,, in which certain ill-defined but awkward stripes impressed themselves upon him and he may
awry.
;
have imagined
it,
possibly, if
he thought about
that this effect of stripes
came of working
diagonal
lines.
upon
vertical, horizontal, or
6
It

was much more
likely,
the result of not

all.
working upon
definite lines at
A designer
who knew the ABC of his business, would make sure of lines not in themselves offensive;
he would counteract a tendency to stripes in
one direction by features directing the attention otherwards
;
and he would so clothe any

itself,
doubtful line that there would be no fear of

its
unduly asserting
it
as in
its
naked(it is
ness
might.
He
foresees the danger
danger even to the most experienced) and he

is
fore-armed against
it.
of valour
who
disdains to
The mighty man be -trammelled by

is
principles, or
any such encumbrance,

It is
with-
out defence against contingencies practically

certain to arrive.
only by a miracle, or
failure.
fluke, that
he can escape
The
over-
whelming odds are, that the petty considerations he has despised, will be quite enough to wreck any venture he has dared in defiance
of them.
Since, then,
it is
practically inevitable that

in ornarriehtal
there shall be
definite lines
designseeing that if you don't arrange for them they arrange themselves is the merest
ît
common
sense to lay
with, and, in -fact, to
down those lines to begin make them the skeleton
Introductory.
or framework
pattern.
upon which you build up your
You
few.
will see,
when they
are laid bare for

all
you, that these skeletons are after
very
II.
PATTERN DISSECTION.
Repeated- pattern
cording to
First
stripe.
its
may be
classified
ac-
structure, I said.
in
It
order of obviousness comes the
comes also very early in order of invention the loom must from the beginning have suggested the stripe-pattern, which practically grows out of it.
:
The
stripe,
however, carries us only a very
short distance in the direction of design.
For
immediately you make any break in the repeated

line,
the recurrence of that break gives
other lines in the cross direction.
Suppose a
is clear,
series of horizontal
bands broken
It
at equal intervals
by a
series of rosettes.
fall
;
that
if
the rosettes
one under the

or
if
other,
they give upright
lines
they are
If the
shifted
you get diagonal
cross lines.
line itself is broken, as in the case of
a series
?late2.
1 T
"as
^BU
"
ii
SGI
(7^6
ill
flA%5 II
?late 3.
l-t-Lt-4
,-
Cross
lM;ob
rh-êo
.
L^-tticcI
ULLHILDIUI 11-^^
Jjiui FTtl
g^
I7%&
pi] ^4^
Og olP I OlBf Ml
"l 1_1^
Hâllrai
alaBBla|DlD|
I
r
/CrosstJa'tl-eriT.
rc/vÂ^/\
'MJI
\AAAAA
%ffim;
Ûte
4.
cj'.Mi,'aiiiiu...i;r.'"."i
h.tv.
Pattern Dissection.
of waved
series of
lines, or,
still
g
in
more
plainly,
Vandykes, the turn of the wave, or
the point of the zigzag,
when
it is
repeated,
gives the cross line just the same.
And
This
so
we come
at once to the vast order

lines.
of patterns constructed upon cross

is
probably quite the

it
first in
point of
time, arising as
inevitably does out of the
very primitive art
of plaiting.
You have
what
only to interweave strips

colours,
is
of two different
check, or
and you get at once a

(Plate
familiar to us in black
and white
2.)
as the
chess-board pattern.
Suppose the interwoven strips were all of one colour, then the lines, of intersection would
make a lattice or basket-work pattern. The simplest form of check or lattice is when the crossing is at equal intervals and at Vary the interval, and you right angles.
have
all
manner
of plaids
and
tartans.
Alter
your point of view (or turn the design 45 degrees round) and you get the diamond.
The
real
difference in point
of view
:
makes no
difference
direction,
in
plan
it is
a stripe
may
take
any
but
always a
stripe.
But
if we alter the angle at which the lines cross, we get not only a fresh variety of
lo
shapes,

but
we
get also a
diamond shape
which, for the sake of clearness, I will call the diamond, which plays a very important
part in the next order of patterns, at which however we have not yet arrived. Various plaids,. diamond's, and other developments of
the lattice are exemplified in Plate
3.
In the case of a regular network of crosslines there is
no particular reason
filled
why
they
should always be
chess-board.
.
in alternately
la
They may
just
as
well be
on, re-
grouped
solving
variety
in twos, threes, fives,
and so
as
themselves into patterns
of great
and even of
2.
intricacy,
may be
seen in Plate
This theory, however, must not be pressed

too
like
hiard,
or
a false idea out of

all
you may squeeze something very it. It might be

patterns
are formed on
all patterns, at least,
contended that
the square, or
that can
be woven, the threads forming the squares on which the design is laid. This is obviously
absurd.
The only
are
patterns
built
on the
square
those
in
which, the
artist (con-
sciously or
not) worked, upon, those, lines.
The
actual squares apparent in a

scroll,
coarsely-
woven
or in the old-fashioned sampler,
^-^lale
5-
Pattern Dissection.
belong, not to the pattern, but to
lation into a textile fabric.
its
\ i
trans-
If instead of the chess-board

lines
get,
we take
the
and work upon them, we without departing from those lines (onlyof the
lattice,
intermitting them) a wonderful range of inter-
lacements and the like
some of them of ex-
ceeding intricacy, as in the case of the "fret" number of these are shown on Plate 4.
limit to the ever-increasing
all built
There seems no
range of pattern-work thus disclosed,
upon the same constructional
scaffolding.
From
the intermission of the lines results

less
free,
a kind of spot pattern, more or
which might be mistaken

of design.
for
a distinct order
But
it is
only a variety.
It really matters little
whether a design
lines,
is
constructed on geometric
or
only ar-
it falls within them. The when you come to dissect the two, is the same in either case. Our theory of construction, therefore, applies quite as much
ranged so that
skeleton,
to sprigs, spots,
as to those in
and all so-called free patterns, which the constructional lines
actually occur as lines.
You have
not done
suc-
away with
ceeded
in
construction
when you have
keeping
the
scaffolding out
of
Again, the use of the broken line instead of the straight, or of the curved (which
sight.
we
shall
have to consider more
particularly-
further
effect.
on),
makes no
skeleton
lines
difference except in
is
The
the
all,
5,
same,
though
planned
you show no
at
as in the "all
is
over" pattern on Plate
which
on the parallelogram given by
lattice lines.
So
far
we have had
all
to do
only with the
simplest of
possible schemes, in which at
most two
series of lines intersect
one another.
The
introduction of a third series of cross
lines constitutes
new
departure,
and a most
important one.
Cross the square lattice
by a
series of dia-
gonal
lines
bisecting
the
right
is
angles
to say
cutting the squares in half, that
and we have a new form to work upon, the

triangle.
If instead of the square lattice,
one
starts
with a lattice
of
diamond
shape,
a third
diaper
series of cross lines bisecting the
angles of
the
diamond produces
if
equally
of triangles.
And
sharp
the diamonds of the lattice be of a

that
is
certain proportion^f,
to
say,
two
angles be together equal to one of
^loLte 6.
ÂAAAAAAAAAk A A A i AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA U\AAAAAAAAA A A A^' AAAA AAAA A AA AAAAAAA kAAAAAAAAAAAAA A AAi

Z!AAAAAAi[AA4AAAZ\il
n^late
7.
cj'ir-a,Tk>><i.itk'.SKfBii
.n<ivn>,x.c
fPlate 8.
CTIU.'ElLMaldeh'.
Pattern Dissection.
the blunter angles, you have only to bisect
the blunt
third
angle
of
the
diamonds by
arrive at
all
this
series
of cross
lines to
the
is
equilateral triangle,
far
which of
triangles
away the most
useful in design.
as in Plate
By merely grouping the equilateral triangles, 6, we get the hexagon (a group
of six triangles), the star (a group of twelve),
which
and other shapes, such as that on Plate 7, is made up of seven triangles (i. e. three
triangle)
;
diamonds and a
which
is
or that on Plate
8,
composed of eighteen
triangles or
three hexagons.
glance at the three Plates
6,
7,
8, will
show how immensely the
designer's scope is
now widened.
We
finity
in
have already the basis of

mosaic
all
that in-
of geometric pattern which

inlay,
we
in
find
Byzantine
and
it.
the
Moresque tile-work derived from

be seen
other
that the
It will
hexagon,
shapes,
the
star,
and
form
compound
themselves
exactly-fitting diapers.
By
the use of a fourth series of cross lines
another
new shape
is
evolved.
lattice,
Returning
if
it
once again to the square

it
diagonally both ways,
cross
we by
cross
itself.
14
that
four,
is,

so that each square
is
cut up into
(Plate 9)
you get out of those lines the octagon but not an equal-sided octagon
;
that
is,
built
on a cross
lattice
of different
proportions.
The
will.
octagon, however,
is
not a unit which
will of itself
It is
form a diaper, as the hexagon
only in connection with a square,

figure,
diamond, or other four-sided

will repeat.
that
it
Place side
by
side a series of
octagons, and there will appear four-sided gaps
between (Plate
ated, patterns
9).
series of lines gives us

:
witness
new new varieties of radionce more the elaborate

Nevertheless, this
;
interlacings of the
Arabs
all
of which, even
the most magnificent, are closely related, to the seat of a
common cane-bottomed
chair.
It is possible to carry the principle of radiastill. You may, for example, cross more elaborate lattice by a lattice like itself; but you get by that means rather
tion further
this
intricacy than variety
especially
it
when the
In
intersecting lines are in part interrupted.

certain
Arab patterns, where this

is
ultra-elabora-
tion of lines
employed,
appears almost
as
if
new
;
principle
had been introduced

analysis the
(Plate 10)
but upon
designs
fPlsLte 9.
.JI,tM*11*>>DlÂwaJ.
3>nV>i
^late 10.
Pattern Dissection.
resolve
-
15
themselves
into
the elements with
which we have already had to deal

are the plans
structed.
so few
upon which pattern is conAlready we have come to the end
of the straight-lined family.
Why,
diaper
it
may be
asked, can
lines,
you not make a

lines of the
on other
on the
pentagon for example ?

together so
Well, you
may
if
put
many pentagons and
a very re-
spectable diaper they form

further enrich the
especially
you
pentagons
with
five-pointed stars.
Not long since I came upon just

such
a
diaper,
which, for a mo-
ment,
to upset
promised
all
my
the
patPentagon diaper and
its
neatly
theories
arranged
on
of
subject
tern
anatomy.
skeleton.
However, I had only to dissect

that
it
it,
to discover
was our old

;
friend the
diamond
as at
in
disguise
but so artfully
made up
it
is.
first
sight to deceive.
There
It consists of

side,
pentagons put side by
the interstices
between them ingeniously
filled
with stars
and
triangles,
much
as the pentagons
them-
selves are filled so that one does not readily
distinguish between the parts.

telling that shapes of
It wants no any kind may be put

;
together to form a pattern
but that does not
alter the fact that the lines
on which they are

fall,
;
arranged, or into which they
must be
those
have already laid down

all
which are
indeed the base of
possible pattern.
For further variety

to the use of the
in design,
we must resort
circle.
The
circle itself must,
indeed, be arranged on one or other of the
foregoing plans.
say,
It
must be
struck, that is to
from centres corresponding to the points

In so far
of intersection of lines, such as have already
been described.
it is
only one of the
innumerable arbitrary shapes that

arranged.
feature
in
may
be so
the
But the
itself,
it
circle is
so important a
alters
it
so
entirely
scope of geometric pattern, that

to be considered apart.
deserves
One cannot simply
ignore the element of curvilinear design in
ornament.
Whether
or not the idea of flowing patterns

is
originated in the circle,
of no great conse-
^la-tell.
Pattern Dissection.
quence.
Instinct
17
must have preceded geo-
metric principles in the mind of man.
One may very easily deduce many of the common curvilinear patterns directly from
angular motives.
(Plate
1 1.)
The wave,
for
example,
is
a zigzag, just
blunted at the points.
Soften the lines of the

Interlace
lines,
hexagon, and you have the ogee.

straight
rods,
and you get waved
as
may be seen in common hurdle.

hexagon
circle.
the perspective view of the
Round
the corners of the

arrive at a rude
or octagon,
and you
The
relation of the
hexagon or octais
gon diaper
to the diaper of circles

if
obvious.
Presumably, the busy bee,
one
may
suggest
such a thing without irreverence, only works

in a circle,
and the hexagonal form of the

is
cells
of the
honeycomb
all
simply the result of

find that cylinders
gravitation; just as
you
is
crowded
become hexagonal
sees the
prisms.
The circular form the moment he first

radiation
is
familiar to
man from sun or moon

For
all
like a disc in the sky, as also the principle of
perceived in the
first
stars.
know, the very
pattern ever traced
we by
human hand may have consisted of circles. The primeval artist had only to pick up the
c
is
I
nearest dry twig, and indent the
damp
for
earth
with the end of
it,
to get a series of round
impressions, which
would pass
I don't
a very
respectable diaper.
I
say that was so. upon it, that the ways in which patterns are formed can be reduced and that they practically to the siniplest force themselves upon the workman^making him, as it were, an artist in spite of himonly
mean
to insist
self.
The circle, with its segment the curve, and compound the spiral, assumes extreme importance whenwe come to the consideration of the scroll (with which just now we are not
its
concerned)
but
it
it
will
be seen that even
in
mere diapers
leads to an apparently
new
order of things.
The
the
simplest form of circle diaper
is
when
.circles
are arranged on the square or the

;
diamond plan
and so as
.
to touch at the edges.

circles,
By
is
the intersection of the
one by
the
another, an effect of
at once obtained
;
much
and
greater elaboration
it
makes
all
dif-
ference whether
you determine the proportions
of the circle according to the lines on which
they are struck (as in Plate 12) or not (as on the upper part of Plate 1 3).
CPlate
12.
fPlate 13.
î^pers
-"-^b-î-W,^^^.
(î^j^g
*COiislY-uctio(i
of Scale "pattern,
'rbc iti1crilion oF dotted ltnb dhoiuoccnlrcborcirclc
n^lsLte 14.
Pattern Dissection.
Out
of the
circle,
or
its
segments,
we get
manner
also the trefoil, the quatrefoil,
and
all
of cusped shapes (Plate 15), which also must
needs be put together on one or other of the

plans already propounded.
Further, out of the segments of the circle
you can construct the scale pattern, which (as you may see on Plate 15) might equally
have been derived from the scales of a
or the
fish
plumage of a
bird's neck.
The
scale
may also
scales
be considered as a translation of the
Re-arrange the diamond into curved lines. and you have a more graceful, as well as a more complicated, diaper (same plate)
in
which appears the ogee shape, once
before,
referred to as being a curvilinear modification
of the hexagon.
The hexagon
,
itself
may be deduced from

interlacing
it.
Suppose a network of
ogee shapes
wave
lines or
it
amounts to the same

a series of six-sided
.thing
and the result

(Plate
11),
is
figures
very nearly approaching
the straight-lined hexagon.
In this
way
the straight-lined series might

;
be derived from the curved

this
and so once more,
by a veiy different road, we reach always, in maze of pattern-work, the same pointy C 2
2o
The
is,
A natomy of Pattern.
is built.
which
the limited variety of the skeleton on

the combination of straight lines with
which pattern
From
curved (Plates 12 and 13) result all manner of new diaper forms ; which, however, present
way of skeleton. You might start a scroll pattern, such as was common in the sixteenth or seventeenth cennothing very new in the
turies (Plate
17) on the lines either of the
hexagon or of the ogee, or of a mixture of curved and straight lines which I may call the
broken ogee
g-roundwork
;
and
in the
end
it
would not be you had not

lines
very clear which of them you had taken for a

;
or even whether
founded your design upon the diamondsuch

close kindred
do those various skeleton
betray.
I
have dwelt at some length upon

anything
rudi-
mentary diaper forms,

from
for reasons quite apart
intrinsically
interesting
or
beautiful in them, although they
may be
both
one and the other.

the forms, or
More
especially
is this
likely if tender colours

if
be employed to soften
the colour variations do not
quite follow the pattern, as in the case of
marble
inlay,
where the accidental colour of

is
the material
a relief from the geometric
n^late 15
Pattern Dissection.
monotony of the
shapes.
The Japanese somehere and there, anti-
times go so far as to interrupt the pattern,
wiping out a bit of
it
cipating, indeed, the softening effect that age
might impart to
it.
(Plate 14.)
But
it is
more
all
as a basis of design that
we
have at present to consider geometric forms.
The basis
tial
of
repeated patterns
this
is,
as I said, as essen-
geometric.
And,
being
so, it is
that the designer should be acquainted

it is
with simple geometric principles, as
that
figure
draughtsman
should have
some
knowledge of superficial anatomy.
For
art
all
the simplicity of the skeleton lines
he has to deal with, the pattern designer's

is
not such a simple thing as you might
suppose.
He
has not merely to invent pretty
patterns, but patterns that can
be conveniently
out for
worked
and
the lines
mapped
him
by the
conditions of his work, are, in most
instances, not just those
which beauty would
have decreed.
They
prove, however, to be identical with

all
the lines already shown to be the basis of

recurring pattern-work
that,
;
and so we begin
to see
had there been no such thing as pattern design before, and no traditional forms of
22
design for us to follow, those very forms must
have been evolved as certainly out of the more complex conditions of modern manufacture as
they were out of the simple contrivances of
That is to say, that the by the primary processes of netting, plaiting, and so on, would equally have been prescribed by the printing roller or the power loom.
primitive handicraft.
lines first given to us
It is
.
one of the most interesting points

see
in
the analysis of pattern design to

regularly
how
we work
identically the
round, again and again, to same shapes. You cannot safely
dogmatise as to the origin of this or that

pattern
;
there are always so
many ways
in
which
it
might have been suggested.
Put side
by
side a series of
waved
lines so that their

is
curves are opposed (Plate ii) and the effect
exactly the same as though you had opened

out an ogee diaper
pattern
;
you can deduce

it
either
from the other.
Or, again (same

is
plate), if the
ogees interlace,
impossible
to say whether this
was the outcome of the

or simply of the pro-
ogee, or of
waved
lines,
cess of netting.
On
in
Plate i6 are
which
one
shown six different ways and the same simple staif

at.
pattern
may
be arrived
^late
16,
Pattern Dissection.
1.
23
By By
the juxtaposition
of stars and the
addition of cross-lines.
2.
the juxtaposition of diamonds and
the addition of cross-lines.

3.
By By
By
the
juxtaposition
of right-angled
star.
diamonds, each occupied by a

4.
the interlacing
of
two
series
of
octagons, and the addition of cross-lines.

5.
the crossing of two series of zigzag

cross-lines.
lines,
6.
and the addition of
By the crossing of two series of diamonds

and the addition of
in
cross-lines.
or lozenges,
And
the
result
this
does not by any means exhaust
number of ways
which the
same
dif-
might have been reached.

take another instance, of a very
To
you know how common it is to see a waved line with leaves alternating on each side of it. It appears on the face of it, a quite mechanical and arbitrary arrangement
ferent kind,
but you have only to note how, in nature,

the alternate leaves on a slender stem, pull
it
out of the straight to see the natural and
inevitable origin of the idea.
By
merely ex-
aggerating the slight wave of the natural

stem,
you get one of the most conventional
of ornamental border patterns.
24 So
it it

would seem
that,,
whether you begin
with mechanical construction or with nature,
works round, in the
mentist, to
in the
htod of an ornathe same thing in the end only
hands of an ornamentist.
-v
late 17.
erKA.nii>iidu.sn>(T>i st.H.'aaM.x.c
Practical Pattern Planning.
25
III.
PRACTICAL PATTERN iPLANNING.

Pattern design
is
very seriously affected

that the possible lines
all
by the circumstance
of construction are not in
cases practicable.
In practical design
limitations are strict
;
for
manufacture the
it is
and
only by sub-
mission to
them
that success in ornamental
design
is
possible.
Nor
is it
only the style

is
or character of the design that
affected,
but
its
plan also.
Oriental mind, delighting in geometric
The
intricacy,
has availed
itself
largely
of the
built up with it all manner of delightfully elaborate patterns. The modern European finds it more convenient to him to adopt the simpler parallelogram. He may now and then use hexa-
triangular unit, and has
gonal
prefers
or
other many-sided
square.
tiles,
but he
weaver's
the
So
also
the
cards are inevitably in the shape of parallelo-
grams, and the printer's blocks
and though
26
The Anatomy of Pattern,
the printer
make
use of the
roller instead
-
of the block, the conditions of design remain
unaltered
for the roller
is,
for all practical
purposes of design, only a block bent round

in the
shape of a cylinder.
Even the bookbinder of the Renaissance, who was comparatively free to do what he liked in the way' of "tooling," was led, whether by instinct or by his tools, to adopt
a
rectangular
is
repeat,
as
in
Plate
i8
in
which also
in the
exemplified what
may be done
comparatively
way
of reversing, and again reversing,
the unit of design

little
so as with
drawing to produce
the effect of an
extensive pattern.
We have,
ordinarily, to reconsider the pos-'
sible lines of
pattern
construction
in their
is
relation to the rectangular figure,
which
the
repeat determined for us

nearly
all
by the
is
conditions of
modem
manufacture.
The base
of our operations
then usually
a parallelogram.
Furthermore, this parallelogram

cases restricted in size,
is
in all
and
in
most cases of
more
or less arbitrary proportions.
For example
printing,
it is
in
the case of wall-paper
practically determined for us
?late
18.
27
that the printer's block shall be rectangular.
Custom has further fixed its width at 21 And, since a block of greater length than that would be unwieldy, we are restricted
inches.
to a square of 21 inches
by
21 inches.
The
of the
block
may
represent a fraction only
design,
which can theoretically be
made up
But
of as
many
blocks as you please.
in practice the
expense of such a prothe paper-hangings cost

are
ordinarily
ceeding would
make
more than
worth
;
paper-hangings
and, apart from commercial consider-
ations,
which would be enough to prevent

it
that kind of extravagance,
is
contrary to
craftsmanship so to misapply labour.
most capable
art to
artist is
he
The who can apply his

full
most purpose, and get

a matter of
fact,
value out of
his materials.
As
the wall-paper designer
has to content himself, then, except in very
few instances, with a repeat of

inches square.
at
most 21
Within those
free
;
limits
he
is
comparatively
but, as I
his
have already shown, do what

fall
he
will,
repeated pattern will
into
geometric
lines, if
only those of the parallelo-
gram on which
it is built.
A pattern, such as
28

19,
A, on Plate
eonform to no
actual
may seem
at first sight to
;
conditions of restraint
but the
lines of the repeat are
apparent on
closer inspection in
any
single feature
whose
you
recurrence
will find,
is
to be traced.
It is based,
upon the square. Apart from the conditions of actual manuit is
facture
found commercially expedient to

tile,
adopt certain fixed dimensions for the

block, roller, or whatever
it
may beand we
tiles (if they,
are thus constrained to design

are to be of
any
use)
on the usual
three, six,
;
eight-inch or other accepted scale

to a width fixed
textiles
by
the loom, and a length

;
controlled
by the consideration of economy
block-printed fabrics under very similar conditions

;
and
roller-printed to a length as well
as a width prescribed.
The
proportion of the
parallelogram within which our design must
be confined
varies, that is to say,
with the
manufacture for which
we
are designing.
tell,
An
from
experienced designer could often

its
proportion and scale alone, for what par-
ticular
it is
manufacture a design was made.
And
in the impracticability of his ideas that
the novice most infallibly betrays his lack of

experience.
9la1e
19.
CrKelPhoto-llth,
29
fully
There
is
no occasion
to enter
more
is
into all the various technical reasons for the

limitations to
which the designer
subject
is
The practical convenience

patent.
for
of them, however,
It is as desirable that
the architect,
tiles
example, should know what sized

available, as that
may be
and
it is
he should be able
;
to reckon
upon the
" bond " of his brickwork
equally clear that without some uni-
formity in the width of materials (such as

silks, velvets,
carpets, chintzes,
and so
on),
it
would be
difficult to estimate,
off-hand, the
relative cost of each.
As
it is,
the public
is
not seldom misled in
that way.
The
difference
is
between 18 and
2 1 inches in width,
not so apparent to the
eye that the purchaser of a French wallpaper need

is
realise,
when he
selects
it,
that
it
actually nearly seventeen per cent, dearer
than an English paper nominally at the same

price
!
Something very
like
a
this
swindle
is
perpetrated
when
facts
of
kind
are
is
deliberately kept from the buyer.

further fraud in withholding from
There
him the
in-
formation that certain foreign goods sold by

the piece are only about three-quarters of the
length of English goods competing with them.
30

return to the subject
To
is,
the
upshot of
it
that the designer has habitually to shape
his
design according to a rectangular plan,

limited, if not fixed, dimensions.
and that of
It
becomes, then, a very serious question
with him
how
far
he can
avail himself of
any
set
other basis.
The
student might
with
advantage
himself to tabulate the possibilities in the
way
of adapting the various units of repeat to

repetition, within the square.
It
would then
be seen
that,
though
all
things are possible,
there are schemes the artist would like to

adopt, which, in order to be brought into the
repeat permitted, would need to be worked
out upon so small a scale as to become quite

too insignificant for use.
One
to give.
instance of this
it
may be
worth while
Suppose a square block of 21
you wish
it.
to
inches, and adapt a hexagonal design to
Only those who have tried the experiment have any notion how small the hexagons would come. If you made your hexawidth,
gons 10^ inches wide, so as to get two in they would not come true in the
;
length
they would be too long.
If
you made
-?late 20.
lia>,9Jin>tHl
them
not
true,
they would
fill
the square, but
only a space about 21

inches
by
18.
Three
hexagons
as a
"
and
in
half
the width
would work, but only

drop " pattern
:
that would give hexa-
gons
across.
of
six
inches
to
In
order
occupy the square with

true hexagons repeating
without a " drop," they
would need to be
duced to half that
that
is
re;
size
to
say,
there
would have to be seven

hexagons to the width,
measuring
each
only
three inches across.
It
will
plainly
be
seen, in
this
instance,
how very
artist
is
strictly
the
bound
by
considerations
scarcely occur
which
to the
<-5caTe21 ioc1;)e->
32

which have always
uninitiated, considerations
had
a great deal to
pattern-work.
do with the design of Fashion has had her say in
the matter, too, no doubt
it
it is
a wicked
way
she has
but though certain lines have been
generally adopted at certain periods and in

certain countries, I think
will invariably
be
found that there was some technical or practical
reason for their adoption in the
first
instance.
Out
for
of the conditions
of weaving
came,
example, the adoption of upright patterns

cross
and
Colouring
(as
in
the
silks
of
Byzantine, Sicilian, and early Italian design),

as well as the turning over of the design on
the two sides of an upright stem, or purely
imaginary central
Plates 20 and
21,
line.
This
is
shown
in
the one taken froni an

other
old Sicilian silk
the
1
from a coarse
seen what
woollen fabric of the
5th century.
further be
In Plate 22
influence
pattern.
may
the material
may
exercise
upon
There was a whole
class of patterns
of this kind schemed in the 15th and i6th centuries,
with the obvious purpose of disturbing

as possible of the rich pile of the
as
little
velvet for which they were designed.
^kte
21.
?late 22,
33
essen-
The
tially
turning over of the pattern
is
a weaver's device.
In a pattern similarly
is
planned for printing there

that
no occasion
for
same
the
rigid
symmetry
it
of the
two
sides.
On
contrary,
is
desirable
rather
to
in
introduce
Plate 23.
some
variations, as I
have done
34
IV.
THE "DROP" PATTERN.

work upon, all For it is basis of the diamond that " drop" on the patterns are most readily designed. The " drop " is a device by means of which
useful skeleton to
is
The most
things considered,
the diamond.
the designer
is
enabled, without reducing the
scale of his work, to minimise the
danger of
unforeseen horizontal stripes in his design, a
danger which
occur always
level.
is
side
imminent when the repeats by side on the same
The
printer's block,
is
we will
say, is a square
;
or the roller
its
equivalent
or the cards
.
take that
strip,
form.
In the printed or woven

silk,
or what end of one repeat must tally with the beginning of the next, in order that the
not, the
whether paper, cretonne,
pattern
piece.
may be
continuous throughout the

.the
Equally of course
design must
?late23.
The
'
Drop "
Pattern.
35
be so schemed that the ri^t side of one

piece of the stuff will
fit
on to the
left
of
another,
and so on.
is
But
it
clear that the design
may be
so
contrived that each succeeding breadth has to
be dropped in the hanging.

If this
drop were only very slight
say
three inches
it
would take seven breadths,
in a pattern of 21 inches deep, before a given
feature in the design occurred again exactly

.
on the same
lines, but,
level.
There would be no dan-
ger then of any horizontal tendency in the
on the other hand, great likelihood

itself,
of a diagonal line developing
with even
more unfortunate effect. The design steps downwards and the shorter the steps, the more noticeable is the line they take. This " difficulty is avoided if you make the " drop
;
just one-half the depth of the pattern, so that
every alternate strip

level.
is hung on the same Then the diagonal lines correct one
another.
If
any
line at all asserts itself,
it
is
a zigzag (instead of a step), which, in connection with corresponding zigzags above
and
of
below,
may
is
very possibly form a
trellis
diamonds.
There
good reason,
therefore, for saying
36

is
the diamond
a useful plan to work on
for
upon
its
it is
formed the safest variety of drop

namely, which drops one-half
are given
pattern
that,
depth.
Instances
of drop patterns
in
and others. One has heard persons, more familiar with the forms of ornament than expert in practical
Plates 17, 24, 29, 32, 33,
design, complain of the
difficulty
they exIf they
perience in
scheming
a "drop."
would only think of the problem as the filling of a diamond shape, it would come
very easily to them.
When
a
the pattern within the diamond
is
symmetrically disposed on the two sides of

central
upright
line,
the artist
has the
opportunity of working out a design which

is
apparently twice the width at his
dis-
posal.
If
you subdivide a block of 21 inches thus, so that the two smaller divisions a and V together
equal the larger division ^, it amounts to precisely the same
thing as though you designed upon the basis of a squat diamond 21 inches high by 42 inches wide. You have only to
Îate24.
CF.KollPlioto-LitTi
The
"
Drop "
Pattern.
37
transpose the component triangles to produce

the squat diamond.
But, in order that the
design shall be practicable,

it
must be
dis-
symmetrically
posed on either side

of a central line
:
the
one side of
not work.
it
must
other, or
it
be an exact reverse of the
would
of
The advantage gained

course, only apparent
strip is
in
this
is
way
is,
what
put into one
taken out of the other
but
in the
case of a pattern appearance goes a long way.
From
the practical point of view,
it is difficult
to over-estimate the value of this expedient

in design, the
common
property of designers
for all
manner of
fabrics,
but undreamt-of
in
the philosophy of the amateur.

Theoretically,
it is all
the
same whether you
design a drop on the lines of the square, on

the slant, or on the diamond, you
in either case at identically the
may
arrive
result.
same
This
the
plain
is
plainly
shown
in Plate 25, in
which
dotted portions of the ground will ex-
how
the same pattern might be built on
either one of three plans.
You might
snip
J8
The
A ndtomy of Pattern.
square
;
pieces from the four corners of the
and make with them the diamond or if you dispose them differently, you might produce the oblique shape which last would amount to the same thing as though you had cut off
;
only two corners and transposed them.
For
all
that,
it
makes
practically all
the
difference in the world
which plan you adopt.
Your design must be influenced to a very considerable degree by the shape you set
yourself to
fill.
It
would never occur
to you,
for instance, to stretch a festoon, or wreath,
across a width of space
you did not see before

fairly said, that
you.
So
it
may be
is
such
extension of the design, beyond the width of

the material,
the direct result of working
on the
lines of the
diamond
whilst
you are
its
designing within the lines of the square, you
have naturally no impulse to go beyond

limits.
In designing for
the material
is
tiles
and such and the
like,
where
not continuous, the conditions

possibilities
are soniewhat different,

accordingly.
Where
the unit of design can
conveniently be turned round, or half-way

round, or three-quarters of the way, the scope
of the
designer
is
increased
out
of four
The
'^
Drop"
Pattern.
he can
39
get, for ex-
repeats of a six inch
tile
ample, a circular design 12 inches in diameter.
So
again, the bookbinder, with a compara-
tively
limited
set
of tools,
;
has
very con-
siderable scope in design

lines
but even then the
he can work upon are always the same
although
him
more of them may be open
to
than to another.
40
V.
SKELETON PLANS.
The
lines,
designer finds
venient to design at
because their
more cononce upon the diamond simplicity enables him

it
ordinarily
better to keep in view the effect of his pattern

in
its
repeated form than
any other
"
lines (there are others)
on which the
drop
can be worked.
Even though one may have no

taking advantage of the
it
intention of
full
width of a block,
order
to
may
still
be found convenient to design

if
within the diamond,
only
in
economise design
is
and,
mind you, economy

case.
an absolute necessity of the
But
for
economic reasons there would be no weaving,

printing,
stamping, and so on
ourselves
to
we
should
confine
-
embroidery,
tapestry,
painting,
and other work of our own hands. If you begin by dividing the width of 21 inches into two, and make your pattern a
'drop," 21
inches long
by \o\
wide,
it is
the
same
as
though you had worked upon a
Tiate 26.
Skeleton Plans.
41
to point, as
diamond 21 inches from point
may ,be
seen at
in Plate 26, although, as I
same pattern would probably not have occurred to you in either case. Designing on the diamond such a pattern as the last-mentioned might very likely occur to
said before, the
one
on the
lines of the
dropped paralleloa
gram, more
Plate 19.
likely
such
one
as
B on
you divide the width of 2 1 inches into three (A, Plate 26) and On those lines set out a series of diamonds 21 inches long
Again,
if
by 14 inches
wide, so that the block contains

in the
one and a half

as a drop (to
width, this will

its
work
only
fall
one-half
depth)
if
the diamonds were

filled
all filled alike.
Variously
diamonds would not repeat. If you still divide your 2 1 inches into three, and institute a series of stripes or panels of
seven inches wide, each of which drops at the
same
interval (whatever
it
may
be),
it is
likely
to result in a diagonal stripe
more
or less pro-
nounced
have
which might, of course, equally

designed
been
of the
upon diagonal
only
also
lines.
(D, Plate 26.)

If
three
stripes
one
were
as a
dropped,, the design
would
hang
42
drop, revealing very likely a zigzag line on
the principle already laid down.
(C, Plate 26.)
Further explanation of the ways in which

a given space
said
may
be subdivided (what
21 inches
is
of
the
supposed
applies
equally to any given parallelogi-am) would be

superfluous.
Enough has been

obtained.
said to
show
how by such
of scale
subdivision the utmost variety
may be
you come back always to the same few schemes and although in any case your pattern might equally have been designed upon other lines, working on those lines it never would have
Although, however you
start,
;
'
occurred to you.
The
diagonal stripe pattern on
Plate 27
it is
resolves itself into a
diamond
repeat, but
tolerably certain that the designer did not
work upon the lines of that diamond, but probably upon a network of diagonal and
horizontal cross-lines
as did also the inventor

on your design of
is
of Plate 20.
The
inevitable influence
the lines upon which you start,
the excuse,
and the only excuse,

laid out.
for puzzling over all the
various skeletons upon which pattern can be
n'l
ate
27
_ionat
rormoS upon "tbey
C
(..;. of tS|
"J
'\j^
Skeleton Plans.
It
is
43
a good test of your design,

it
have roughe;d
out on one plan, to
finished drawing on another.
when you make the By that means
you see it, as it were, from two points of view, and can form a very fair idea as to how it
repeats, without
drawing much of the repeat.
The
to
practical designer,
who
has learnt not
attach great value to the appearance of

it
his design as a drawing, often cuts

liberately,
up deon
and re-arranges the
parts, in order
the better to prove his repeat.
A design
the square he cuts into four equal parts, and
what were the corners of the design come together and form the centre, and so on. The accompanying diagram shows how
re-arranges the quarters^ so that
the
parts of
the
diamond may be
re-arranged.
But the best of

all
possible tests
is
to cut ever so rude
stencil
of
the
design,
broad masses of the

to multiply
it
so as roughly
indefinitely.
A child
;
can be
taught to apply that test for you

is infallible.
and
it
44
Whatever the lines of the skeleton, in any important work they are usually disguised. Sometimes (as often in Arab art) they are so crossed and interlaced that it is difficult
to follow
their
intricacy.
The
really very
simple patterns on Plates i,,io, and 28 are

at first sight very puzzling.
Or the lines may be interrupted so

lose the thread of the design.
that
you
Or, again, two

be, so to
'
or
more schemes of ornament may
speak, interwoven, the one asserting itself here,
the other there, so that neither thread of idea

is
>
too conspicuous.
The
29,
is
eflfect
of this
is
to
in
be
seen
in
Plate
a drop
pattern,
which
growth
ning
it.
the
attention
diverted from
the
\ '
formal lines of the scroll by^ a conventional

of
much
freer
character
overrun-
Further, features
may be
fails
introduced of such
is
importance in the design that the eye
drawn
In
to them,
and
to
perceive the
connecting lines between them.

Plate
30
the strongly marked bird-
forms counteract to some extent the simple 1
ogee or diamond
set out.
lines
on which the pattern
is-
In
fact,
the birds
emphasise the
actual repeat of the block, just as the scroll
flaf6 28.
Plate 29.
iNKi-PHtTO, SPBAfU'E *f' lon;
Skeleton Plans.
reveals the unit of the ornamental repeat
;
45
and
out of the two contrasting schemes arises

a certain confusion, which
is
of
some
artistic
account in design.
Obviously, however, the most effective
of disguising the skeleton
is
way
it,
to clothe
as
nature does; and the most natural

this
is,
way of doing
folia-
with something in the nature of
tion
lines
beneath which the bare constructional

are
as
little
noticeable
as
the
stiff
branches of a tree under their burden of leaf
and blossom.
(Plates 31, 32, &c.)

life,
By this
this
means, you get at once

great, that
interest,
and variety so
already
one might continue

it
lengthy
explanation until
fail
became
sceptic
tedious,
and yet
in
to
make
the
quite
believe
the absolute simall
plicity" of
the skeleton forms underlying
pattern.
The foliated scroll,

in
as
you see it, for example,

almost as though
it
Roman
or
Renaissance Arabesque (or
even in Plate
32), looks
were impossible of geometric construction.
And, of
built up.
course,
it
never
all
is
mathematically
it
But, for
that,
falls into
is
the
familiar lines.
The
spiral itself
;
only a series
dissect
of segments of circles
and
if
you
any
46
repeated scroll-pattern, you will find most

likely that
spiral.
its
back-bone
is
a wave line or
it
Certainly
you
will find
has a back;
bone.
Pattern
is
a vertebrate thing
is
and
in
scroll the
spinal cord
very decidedly
scroll
pronounced.
is
You
can easily see when a
broken-backed.
?1ate ^0,
]3Ae3].
a.te
32.
iîik..ajt u. J.
w.B .,.
Appropriate Pattern.
47
VI.
APPROPRIATE PATTERN.
It is
only by experience that a designer
learns to
know what may, and what may

lines.
not,
be done within given
Many
a notion
which one had a thought of adopting, turns out to be practically quite unamenable to
existing conditions.
You
out
caniiot
draw a
bold, flowing scroll with-
considerable
allowance in
the
way
it
of
length in the blocks, cards, or whatever
may
very
is,
be
nor can you well avoid a certain upright

is
tendency in patterns where the width
much
the
restricted.
The
fact of the matter
characteristic
lines
of
time-honoured
patterns are mainly the direct result of the

restrictions
under which the craftsman was

facility
working.
It is
owing to the
peculiarly
with which
tri-
angular cubes of
that the
tile
can be manipulated,
geometric character of
48

Oriental ornament
is
much
us,
due.
So
also with
tile
the
proportions of the square
have
resulted in a distinctly characteristic form of
ornament.
do not pretend to say whether the turning over of the design which prevails in early
I
silks,
was suggested by the

but
it
fact
that such
turning over could be
so, readily
done
in
weaving
looks, at all events, as

fact,
though
the Sicilians, and, in
weavers generally,
until comparatively recent times,
adopted that
it
plan of design, because by means of
they
could at once double the scale of their pattern.

In the Renaissance
silk,
figured on Plate 33,
and in all such reversible designs planned upon the diamond, hexagon, or ogee, onehalf the labour of designing and card-cutting
is
saved.
Naturally, the nineteenth century
manufacturer has not been slow to adopt a

plan so obviously economical.
said, that
It
has been
the
idea of reversing a pattern
owes
its
origin to the circumstance that

so,
it.
you
may
is
double a sheet of paper, and
with one
If that
action, cut out the
two sides of
not
so, it
well might be
except
that, pro-
bably, reversed patterns were
common
it is
long
before paper was.
Very possibly
derived
C F
Kell Pliolo-Lith
^1 ate 34.
from the practice of folding or doubling.
49 One
may
put together, for example, several sheets
of veneer, or even several planks, and, with one

action of the saw, fret all of
facility
them
alike.
That
in
gave
rise
at
all
events to Boulle's
;
characteristic
inlay
patterns
and
the
balconies of Swiss chilets one

effective
is
still
sees a very
kind of pierced pattern-work, which

stripes of different colours are so
accounted for in a similar way.
Bands or
common
in
in
Eastern curtains, blankets,
&c.,
because they can be so easily woven.
Even
dis-
more elaborate
of the
silk
and other
designs,
certain
colours
are very often
tributed band-wise.
The
variety of colour so
obtained,
is
obviously due to the ease with

shuttle.
whiqh the weaver can change his
At
the same time,

If in
economy
is
thus often
effected.
such
a design' as that on
Plate 34 the flowers were
meant
to
appear
in gold, or only the eyes of the flowers, the
gold thread need only be used in the bands
where the flowers or eyes actually occur. You have but to look at the back of any
old piece of many-coloured silk
damask
is
to
see the changes of the shuttle very plainly
marked. The aim of the designer
usually to
50
disguise

them more
or less in his pattern.
But
in the early days of silk weaving the unso-
phisticated artist
line.
had no
fear of a horizontal
In such a pattern as the Sicilian silk in
Plate 20, he would boldly
make
the various
bands of animals
in various
colours.
He
would sometimes even carry bands of colour

straight across the animals, regardless of their
shape.
And
him.
the
effect
of this rough-and-
ready proceeding,
justifies
in the silk itself, certainly
In early examples of weaving both the

turning over of the pattern, and the banded
arrangement of the colour are veiy frequent;

indeed, so
much
so, as to
form quite marked
features in the design of the eleventh
and
fol-
lowing centuries, whether Sicilian or

(It
Italian.
was from Sicily, you know, that the art of weaving was introduced into Italy.) Designers would be the more ready to adopt, and to adhere to, the plan suggested.^;
by the
it,
line, due to was not anyways injurious to the effect of a fabric meant to fall in folds. The dim vertical
loom, in that the horizontal
line,
which was also likely to occur from the turning over, was calculated to lose itself in
..the
more strongly marked
verticality of the
n^l8LTe35.
folds
;
and the horizontal band emphasised

shuttle
by the change of the

In
flat
had an absolute
is less
value in marking the fulness of the hangings.

decoration the horizontal band
;
unobjectionable
so
and
it is
for that reason that
many
shall
of the wall-paper patterns, borrowed
or stolen from
good old
stuffs
you
know them
are
To
by their stripes
altogether unsatis-
factory on the wall.
me, horizontal stripes
always suggest the ample hanging, and seem

to
want the
folds.
The bold and damask pattern

be
lost if
it
beautiful effect
of such
as that in Plate
35 would
were rendered
in flat decoration,
especially without the
charm of the texture

That
of the stuff: those waving lines and bands

of big rosettes
would be unendurable.
pattern, by the way, although it works on the principle of the parallelogram
actually
was obviously arrived

a series of waved
zontal
at
by
carrying across
upright lines a
broad hori-
band of
rosettes.
Many an
flat
admirable textile pattern, other-
wise in every
way
suitable, is inapplicable to
silk,
decoration, whether in the shape of
or chintz, or wall paper.
Some
persons appear to be of opinion that.
52
The
A natomy of Pattern.
consists
a pattern, according to Dr. Johnson, beiiig

"
something to be copied," design

in
therefore
before.
copying what has been

is
done
but
?
That
all
very well so far as con-
cerns the definition of the
word pattern
how about
I
the meaning of the word design
say
would go beyond the lexicographer, and not everypattern is an " exemplar."

:
In
adapting a design, from one material

it
to use in another,
it,
is
not enough to copy

;
it
needs to be translated
is
which trans-
lation
not so easy, but that an artist gifted

it,
with any invention of his own, will find
on the whole, better worth while to say what

it
is
in
him
to say for himself,
and not go
melodious
on harping on the though they

be.
old, old tunes,
The most perplexing thing about modern design is that we are asked tcdesign, to-day
under these conditions, to-morrow under those.
We
have no traditions and no

of us there
relief of
style.
And
and
in
if
yet in the very variety of
the efforts de-
manded
is
a kind
the presence of difficulties our ingenuity,
we have
tion.
any,
is
excited.
The more
difficult
the conditions, the
more they provoke soludesigner must have in him something
of
53
pugnacity
he must enjoy attacking a
tough problem.
designer, not
at a design, but
man
proves himself a
arrived
when he has somehow
inasmuch as out of unpro-
mising material and untoward circumstances
he can shape a thing of beauty.
LONDON
PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, STAMFORD STKEET AND CHARING CROSS.
WORKS ON DECORATIVE ART

PUBLISHED BY
B. T.
BATSFORD,
52,
HIGH HOLBORN, LONDON.
Every Day Art

cloth, gilt, 7j. 6d.
APPROVED BY THE SCIENCE AND AET DEPABTMENT. : Short Essays on the Arts not Fine. By Lewis Foreman Day, Author of " Instances of Accessory Art," &c.
With upwards of loo
illustrations, chiefly
by the Author, crown 8vo,
Modern Ornamentation ; being a
Series of Original
Designs for the Patterns of Textile Fabrics, for the Ornamentation of Manufactures in Wood, Metal, Pottery, &c. ; also for the Decoration of Walls and Ceilings, and other Flat Surfaces. By Chr. Dresser, Ph.D., &c.. Author of "The Art of Decorative Design" ; "Japan, its Architecture, Arts," &c.
fjO
plates, exhibiting about it/o Designs, imperial 4to,

gilt, 36^.
handsomely bound in cloth
The
"A COMPLETE OBAMMAB OF ADAH'S OBNAMENT." Architecture, Decoration, and Furniture of

and James Adam,
Architects.
Robert
Twenty-six folio plates (17
in.
by I3J in.), selected from " Works in Architecture," published 1778-1822, and Photo-lithographed by James Akerman. Neatly half-bound, i/. 5j.
Decorative Designs.
2s. 6d., post-free.
By Robert Adam.
Transfers,
taken from the Original Drawings in the Soane Museum, by R. Charles. (>fine large plates of Ceilings, Scroll Ornaments, &'c., folded in wrapper,
Grammar of
Japanese Ornament and Design.
many in Colours and Gold, representing all Classes of Natural and Conventional Forms, Drawn from the Originals ; with Introductory, Descriptive, and Analytical Text. By T. W. Cutler, F.R.I.B.A, Imperial 4to, in elegant cloth binding, 2/. hs.
Illustrated by 65 plates,
Art and Work

Industries
as
shown
in
the several Artistic
employed in the use of Marble, Stone and Terra-Cotta, Metal, Wood, and Textile Fabrics ; as well as in the various Details associated with Decorative Art. The whole exemplified by 85 Lithographic Drawings (each with some Descriptive Explanation) of Antique, Mediaeval, Italian, Renaissance, and Oriental Examples ; including some Illustrations from the best unpublished Works of the " Brothers Adam," together with other Designs from more recent Authorities. By Owen W. Davis, Architect. Royal 4to, cloth, gilt edges, 2I. 10s.
Handbook of Coloured Ornament,

styles
:
in
the Historic
a Collection of Choice Authentic Examples, represented on 36 Royal 4to, cloth gilt, loj. td. plates, printed' in Colours and Gold.
WORKS ON DECORATIVE
Suggestions
ART.
from Bird and Flower
a Series of
Drawings exhibiting a Variety of Birds in their Haunts, Groups of Flowers and Plants, &c., drawn in a highly Decorative spirit, for the use of Designers, Decorators, and others. By J, Thomas, Decorative Artist, Author of "A Portfolio of Japanese Sketches." 42 large folio plates photogiraphed from the Original Drawings, in portfolio, 36J.
Native Printed Japanese

Series of Studies of Birds in
Art Books:
Book
a Charming
.^
most Characteristic and Life-life Attitudes, surrounded with appropriate Foliage and Flowers. In Two Books, each containing 66 pages of highly Artistic and Decorative Illustrations,
Printed in Tints.
Price, 6j. td. each
;
or the set of two, \2s. net.
Art
Foliage for Sculpture
and Decoration.
By
J as.
K. Colling.
plates,
Second Edition, Enlarged and Revised, containing 81 with letterpress and numerous woodcuts. Royal 4to, cloth, \%s.
Examples of English Mediceval Foliage and Coloured

Decoration. By Jas. K. Colling. Taken from Buildings of the Twelfth to the Fifteenth Century, 76 lithographic plates, and 79 woodcut illustrations, Tyith text. Royal 4to, cloth, gilt top, i8f.
Flat Ornament
a Pattern
Book
for
Designers of
Textiles, Embroideries, Wall Papers, Inlays, &c., &c. iô plates, some printed in Colours, exhibiting upwards of 500 Examples of Textiles,
Embroideries, Paper Hangings, Tile Pavements, Intarsia Work, TapesBookbindings, Surface Ornaments from Buildings, &c., &c., tries, collected from Various Museums, Churches, Mosques, &c., &c., with some Original Designs for Textile and other Ornament by Dr. Fischhach, Giraud, and others. Imperial 4to, in portfolio, 25^.
Examples of Ancient and Modern Furniture, Metal

Work, Tapestries, Decoration, Sr'c. By B- J. Talbert, Architect, Author of " Gothic Forms applied to Furniture and Decoration." 21 plates, with Description, &c., folio, doth, 32J. net.
Original Sketches for Art Furniture : By A. Jonquet, 1 A Series of Designs for Modem Furniture in the Jacobean, Queen Anne,
Adam, Chippendale, and Sheraton Styles, illustrated in 143 Designs on 65 lithographic plates, exhibiting Examples of Drawing Room, Dining Room, Bedroom, and Hall Furniture, Chimney-Pieces, &c. Imperial 4to,
cloth, 25^.
Motifs for Panels and other Decorations

izs. 6d.
Twenty
photo-hthographic plates, exhibiting a great variety of Designs in the Japanesque aud other Styles. By John Ward. Imperial 410, bound,

Anatomy of Pattern

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Anatomy of Pattern

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

IT"

Cornell University Library

3 1S9A 031 236 114

Cornell University Library

the Cornell University Library.

There are no known copyright

the United States on the use of the

TEXT BOOKS OF ORNAMEi^TAL DESIGN.

THE ANATOMY OF PATTERN.

THE DISTRIBUTION OF ORNAMENTAL DESIGN

Construction, of German Gotlpic

TEXT BOOKS OF ORNAMENTAL DESIGN.

'EVERY-DATI: ART,' ETC.

LONDON: BATSFORD, 52, HIGH HOLBORN.

should have been

so grateful for any practical teaching in ornarrient,

that I fancy there

will find it helpful to

last before the Society of Arts.

have assumed no great amount of tech-

knowledge on the part of the he wants to know. And,

and not by any means con-

sidered as ornamental addenda to the book.

stances was feasible.

make each one

so that from the study of

apart from what

Mecklenburg Square, London, W.C.

II. Pattern Dissection

The "Drop" Pattern

DESCRIPTIVE LIST OF PLATES.

THE CONSTRUCTION OF GOTHIC TRACERY PATTERNS

other plan on which elaborate tracery

Checks and other diapers

THE LATTICE AND THE DIAMOND

ALL-OVER PATTERN Showing which it is planned.

THE TRIANGLE Diapers

hexagon, and lozenge

lines of the equilateral triangle.

THE TRIANGLE Diapers composed

upon the hexagon and

and other diapers based compound.

octagon diapers and the lines

ARAB LATTICE PATTERNS

Dissected, and their anatomy

of the wave, the ogee, the net, &c.

showing the points

OTHER CIRCULAR DIAPER FORMS Produced by

FREE JAPANESE DIAPER The

forms not geometrically disposed.

THE SCALE PATTERN

arriving at a simple diaper.

lines of the scale pattern.

reversing, the pattern.

SOME PATTERN PLANS

Shovring (A) the square plan,

(B) the dropped parallelogram plan.

and the diagonal

TAPESTRY OF THE XVTH CENTURY

WALL-PAPER PATTERN Shovnng Ogee

VARIOUS DROP PATTERNS

the effect of the

DIAGONAL DAMASK PATTERN