Category: Decoration

Plate XI.

PLATE XI.

1, 4, 6, 7, are from Tombs at Thebes, and are further examples of the Rope Ornament given in the last Plate. Nos. 2 and 3 are varieties of arrangements of Stars, very common on the ceilings both of tombs and temples. No. 2 is formed on squares, No. 3 on equilateral triangles. Read More

Plate X.

PLATE X.

1-5. From Mummy-cases in the Louvre, of a late period. Geometrical arrangements of the single Lotus-leaf.
6. From a Tomb at Thebes. Each circle is formed of four Lotus flowers and four Buds, the intermediate star probably intended for four Lotus-leaves.
7. From a Tomb at Thebes.
8, 9. From a Mummy-case.
10-24 are from the Ceilings of Tombs in various parts of Egypt. In Nos. 10, 13-16, 18-23, are various examples of an ornament representing the unwinding of a pile of rope, which may have given the first suggestion of the volute. In No. 24 the continuous blue line is evidently from the same type.

Source: The grammar of ornament by Owen Jones, London 1910

Associated to:

• Ancient Egyptian Ornaments and Decorations.
• Egyptian Costume history.

Plate IX.

PLATE IX.

The Ornaments on this Plate are taken from Paintings on Tombs in various parts of Egypt, from original Drawings. They are chiefly patterns that could be produced by the loom, and a single glance will show that this is doubtless the origin of most of them.

1-8 are representations of Mats on which the kings stand. They were evidently formed of interwoven straws of different colours. The transition from this state to the formation of patterns, such as 9-12, 17-19, 21, would be very rapid, and they are most probably only reproductions of woven articles of daily use.
Nos. 9 and 10 may have suggested the fret to the Greeks, unless they arrived at it themselves by a similar process.
20 is from the Ceiling of a Tomb at Gourna. It represents the Trelliswork of a Garden Walk, covered with a Vine. It is by no means an uncommon ornament for the curved ceilings of small tombs, and usually occupies the whole ceiling of each excavation at the period of the nineteenth dynasty.
21-23 are derived from Mummy cases in the Louvre, of a late period.

Source: The grammar of ornament by Owen Jones, London 1910

Associated to:

• Ancient Egyptian Ornaments and Decorations.
• Egyptian Costume history.

Plate VIII.

The whole of the Ornaments on this Plate are from Mummy cases in the British Museum and the Louvre, and, like those of the last Plate, are mostly composed of the Lotus-flower and single leaves of the same plant.
In No. 2, above the Lotus-leaves, is a white ornament on a black ground, very common in the tombs, suggested by the interwoven strands of a rope; and in No. 7 we have the chequered pattern, one of the earliest ornaments, evidently derived from the weaving together of different coloured strands.
In the lower part of No. 18 we have another very common ornament, derived from feathers.

Source: The grammar of ornament by Owen Jones, London 1910

Associated to:

• Ancient Egyptian Ornaments and Decorations.
• Egyptian Costume history.

Plate VII.

PLATE VII.

1. Ornament on the top of the Walls of a Tomb at Benihassan.
2. Ditto, ditto.
3. Ditto, from Karnac, Thebes. Read More

Plate VI.

Plate VI.

1. Capital of the large Columns of the Temple of Luxor, Thebes, of the time of Amunoph III., 1250 B.C., according to Sharpe. It represents the full-blown Papyrus, and around it Papyri and Lotus Buds alternating. Read More

Plate V.

PLATE V.

1. Fan made of Feathers, inserted into a wooden Stem in the form of a Lotus.
2. Feathers from the Head-dress of the Horses of the Royal Chariots.
3. Another variety, from Abu-Simbel. Read More