Details and ornaments from the Alhambra

Category

Library Item

Item no

30823

Title

Details and ornaments from The Alhambra, plate XLIII, blank window

Description

The design shows the blank window in the Hall of the Boat at The Alhambra. It has a blue background with geometrical drawings in gold and red.

Artist / maker

Jones, Owen

Date

1845

Size

45.0 x 31.0 cm

Type

Lithograph

Location

Art and Design Library

Islamic patterns are well-known for their intricate geometry, as in this image, where a single circle originates a complicated motif. Owen's proposition no. 11 confirms this practice as a rule for a perfect ornament, 'Every ornament, however distant, should be traced to its branch and root'. The root in this instance is the two circles. As an illustrative example for this principle which can be found in nature, Jones refers to the human hand.

(Jones set out thirty-seven propositions or general principals in the Grammar of Ornament which aimed to improve the general artistic standards through mass education. Find out more about Owen Jones and his design aesthetic and ideals from the Victoria and Albert Museum.)

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Related subjects

Furnishings > Ornamentation > Decorations

Furnishings > Ornamentation > Designs

Furnishings > Ornamentation > Patterns

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