The Grammar of Ornament: A Visual Reference of Form and Colour in Architecture and the Decorative Arts

497 Pages·2016·311.69 MB·English

by  Owen Jones

THE GRAMMAR of
Ornament
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THE GRAMMAR of
Ornament
A visual REFERENCE of FORM and COLOUR in ARCHITECTURE and the decorative ARTS
Owen Jones
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS
PRINCETON AND OXFORD
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The Grammar of Ornament was first published in 1856 by Day & Son, Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London
This edition published in the United States of America and Canada in 2016 by
Princeton University Press
41 William Street
Princeton, New Jersey 08540
press.princeton.edu
Copyright © 2001, 2016 The Ivy Press Limited
Jacket art from original edition.
Chapter IV-Greek Ornament, Greek No. 5.
Chapter VIII-Arabian Ornament, Arabian No. 5.
Jacket design by Amanda Weiss.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,
or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording,
or otherwise, without the prior consent of the publishers.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2015955274
ISBN: 978-0-691-17206-4
This book was conceived, designed and produced by
Ivy Press
210 High Street, Lewes
East Sussex BN7 2NS, UK
www.ivypress.co.uk
Publisher Susan Kelly
Creative Director Michael Whitehead
Art Director James Lawrence
Designer Kate Haynes
Editor Mandy Greenfield
Editorial Assistant Jenny Campbell
Printed in China
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A note on this edition
This new edition of The Grammar of Ornament keeps Owen Jones’s
original Victorian English much as it was written (and with the original
English spelling), although we have redesigned the material into a modern,
compact format. It has been necessary to reposition illustrations and to
renumber the captions and cross references accordingly. Occasionally, for
reasons of space, minor deletions in the captions have been required, but in
the main Jones’s text differs little from the original version published in 1856
and we have tried to keep the spirit of his classic work.
The contemporary commentaries on the left-hand pages aim to set the period
and the illustrations in context. The index is divided into two parts:
references to the original book and references to the modern commentaries.
Inevitably some place-names have changed with the passage of time. In many
cases this is simply a matter of spelling (Balbeck is now more commonly
spelled Baalbek, Aboo-simbel as Abu Simbel), but in other cases names have
altered completely. For ease of reference, the most common place-name
changes are given below:
Asia Minor was the historical name for Anatolia,
the Asian part of Turkey
Burma is now officially known as Myanmar
Byzantium/Constantinople = Istanbul
Edfu = Idfu
Etruria was an area roughly equivalent to present-day Tuscany
Friendly Islands = Tonga
Ispahan = Esfahan
The Low Countries = the region of Europe consisting of
Belgium, the Netherlands, and usually Luxembourg
Nineveh = Kuyunjik
Persia = Iran
Sandwich Islands = Hawaii
Savage Island = Niue
Swabia = a region in southwest Germany.
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Contents
Introduction 12
.........................................................................................
Preface to Owen Jones’s Original Folio Edition 18
.............................
General Principles 22
...............................................................................
CHAPTER I
Ornament of Savage Tribes 30
...........................
CHAPTER II
Egyptian Ornament 46
......................................
CHAPTER III
Assyrian and Persian Ornament 74
.....................
CHAPTER IV
Greek Ornament 88
..........................................
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CHAPTER V
Pompeian Ornament 114
..................................
CHAPTER VI
Roman Ornament 124
......................................
CHAPTER VII
Byzantine Ornament 136
...................................
CHAPTER VIII
Arabian Ornament 154
.....................................
CHAPTER IX
Turkish Ornament 174
......................................
CHAPTER X
Moresque Ornament from the Alhambra 184
......
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