Decorative Patterns of the Ancient World

Arabesque from ancient Rome and China, animal and plant forms from Rhodes, heroic symbols from Egyptian pyramids and interlacing designs from Lindisfarne... This book contains over three thousand such decorative patterns and ornaments from ancient Europe and Asia, supplying artists and craftsmen with a wide source of design ideas from many different historic traditions. Grouped according to motifs, this book contains realistic-symbolic ornaments, fantastic and mythical animals, palmettoes, floral designs, foliage borders, rosettes, sun and moon signs, spirals, geometric designs, shields, nettings, many religious and secular symbols and much more. Mr. Petrie shows the earliest known appearance of each design in history (noting place and time), then traces its many transformations up to 1000 A.D. A helpful feature about this is that if you are looking for a variation on the traditional cross symbol, you merely have to locate the plates dealing with crosses and select the most appropriate one.