The grammar of ornament
Subtitle: a visual reference of form and colour in architecture and the decorative arts
By: Owen Jones
Edition: New edition.
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Published: 2016
Language: eng
Number of pages: 496
ISBN-13: 9780691172064
Subjects: Decoration and ornament; Themes, motives; History
Description: First published in 1856, The Grammar of Ornament remains a design classic. Its inspiration came from pioneering British architect and designer Owen Jones (1809--1874), who produced a comprehensive design treatise for the machine age, lavishly illustrated in vivid chromolithographic color. Jones made detailed observations of decorative arts on his travels in Europe, the Middle East, and in his native London, where he studied objects on display at the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations in 1851 and at local museums. His aim was to improve the quality of Western design by changing the habits of Victorian designers, who indiscriminately mixed elements from a wide variety of sources. Jones's resulting study is a comprehensive analysis of styles of ornamental design, presenting key examples ranging from Maori tattoos, Egyptian columns, and Greek borders to Byzantine mosaic, Indian embroidery, and Elizabethan carvings. At once splendidly Victorian and insistently modern, The Grammar of Ornament celebrates objects of beauty from across time periods and continents, and remains an indispensable sourcebook today.
Notes: "The Grammar of Orient was first published in 1856 by Day & Son, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London"--Title page verso.

Edition statement from page [7].

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
Table of contents: title: Introduction; title: Preface to Owen Jones's original folio edition; title: General principles; title: Ornament of savage tribes; title: Egyptian ornament; title: Assyrian and Persian ornament; title: Greek ornament; title: Pompeian ornament; title: Roman ornament; title: Byzantine ornament; title: Arabian ornament; title: Turkish ornament; title: Moresque ornament from the Alhambra; title: Persian ornament; title: Indian ornament; title: Hindoo ornament; title: Chinese ornament; title: Celtic ornament; title: Mediæval ornament; title: Renaissance ornament; title: Elizabethan ornament; title: Italian ornament; title: Leaves and flowers from nature; title: Index to the commentaries and introduction; title: Index to Owen Jones's text; title: Owen Jones : a chronology.