L’Ornament Polychrome (Ornament in Colour) (page 1/3)

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Fig. 99 No. 8.—Anglo-Saxon Initial letter N

This initial letter N in the Carolingian style was used as a decorative initial for the start of a copy of John’s Gospel (beginning In Principio, or In the beginning; this is the N from “In”). The Gospel here dates from the 8th or 9th century and was [...] [more...] [$]

Fig. 57. No. 6.—Persian Ceramic Tile Border

This full-page border design is taken from ancient persian ceramic building tiles. The original tiles go from the centre of one rosette to the next, and are 10 inches (25cm) from [...] [more...] [$]

Celtic knotwork dragon ornament/initial

This decorative initial was taken from a ninth century psalter [unidentified in the book] and is said to be derived from “drakslingor” style runic carvings—that is, a Viking-age style using animal-inspired motifs for decoration. [...] [more...] [$]

Persion ceramic tile border: flowers and vines, bright version

This is a more brightly coloured version of the Persian ceramic tile full-page border. Note that the brightness of the dark blue background may vary as the image is resized or sharpened. [more...] [$]

Seventeenth-Century Tapestry

The Biblical scene illustrated here is where the fisthermen are having no luck and Jesus says, cast your nets on the other side of the boat; they do, and get lots of fish. The story does not make much literal sense, and the people in the small fishing village at the time would [...] [more...] [$]