Palmette
The palmette is a motif in decorative art which, in its most characteristic expression, resembles the fan-shaped leaves of a
Description
The essence of the palmette is a symmetrical group of spreading "fronds" that spread out from a single base, normally widening as they go out, before ending at a rounded or fairly blunt pointed tip. There may be a central frond that is larger than the rest. The number of fronds is variable, but typically between five and about fifteen.
In the repeated border design commonly referred to as anthemion the palm fronds more closely resemble petals of the honeysuckle flower, as if designed to attract fertilizing insects. Some compare the shape to an open hamsa[1] hand – explaining the commonality and derivation of the 'palm' of the hand.
In some forms of the motif the volutes or scrolls resemble a pair of eyes, like those on the harmika[2] of the Tibetan or Nepalese stupa and the eyes and sun-disk[3] at the crown of Egyptian stelae.
In some variants the features of a more fully developed face
Evolution
It is thought that the palmette originated in ancient Egypt 2,500 years BC,
Third is a version consisting of a clump of lotus or papyrus blooms on tall stems, with a drooping bud or flower on either side, arising from a (primal) swamp. The lotus and papyrus clump occur in association with
Another variant of this motif is a single lotus bloom between two upright buds, a favourite fragrant offering. The god of fragrance,
Most early Egyptian forms of the motif appear later in Crete, Mesopotamia, Assyria and Ancient Persia, including the daisy-wheel-style lotus and bud border.[11] In the form of the palmette that appears most frequently on Greek pottery,[12] often interspersed with scenes of heroic deeds, the same motif is bound within a leaf-shaped or lotus-bud shaped outer line. The outer line can be seen to have evolved from an alternating frieze of stylized lotus and palmette.[13] This anticipates the form it often took – from Renaissance sculpture through to Baroque fountains – of the inside of a half scallop shell, in which the palm fronds have become the fan of the shell and the scrolls remain at the convergence of the fan. Here the shape was associated with Venus or Neptune and was typically flanked by a pair of dolphins[citation needed] or became a vehicle drawn by sea-horses. Later, this circular or oval outer line became a motif in itself, forming an open C-shape with the two in-growing scrolls at its tips. Much Baroque and Rococo furniture, stucco ornament or wrought-iron work of gates and balconies is made up of ever-varying combinations these C-scrolls, either on their own, back to back, or in support of full palmettes.
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The hieroglyphakhet of the horizon guarded by the twin lions of Aker
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Hapy, god of the Nile inundation: by making offerings and ensuring that Upper and Lower Egypt remain unified, the Pharaoh helps to guarantee that the annual flood of the Nile will recur
Classical architecture
As an ornamental motif found in
Botanical combinations
According to Boardman, although lotus friezes or palmette friezes were known in Mesopotamia centuries before, the unnatural combination of various botanical elements which have no relationship in the wild, such as the palmette, the lotus and sometimes rosette flowers, is a purely Greek innovation, which was then adopted on a very broad geographical scale throughout the Hellenistic world.[16]
Hellenistic "Flame palmettes"
From the 5th century, palmettes tended to have sharply splaying leaves. From the 4th century however, the end of the leaves tend to turn in, forming what is called the "flame palmette" design. This is the design that was adopted in
Usage
In classical architecture the motif had specific uses, including:
- the fronts of ante-fixae,
- acroteria,
- the upper portion of the stele or vertical tombstones,
- the Erechtheumand its continuation as a decorative frieze on the walls of the same, and
- the cymatium of a cornice.[18]
The palmette is related to a range of motifs in differing cultures and periods. In
An image of
Similarly, from the early 13th century to 1806 the divine right of the Holy Roman Emperors was conferred by investiture in the Imperial Regalia, which included the coronation mantle displaying the twin lions (recalling the twin lions of Aker above) guarding the palm in the form of a tree of life, with its two pendant clusters of fruit.
Even everyday garden gates throughout Western suburbia are topped with almost identical pairs of scrolls seemingly derived from the motifs associated with the akhet and the palmette, including the related winged sun and sun disk flanked with a pair of eyes.[3] Churchyard gates, tombs[33] and gravestones bear the motif over and again in different forms.
The anthemion is also the mint mark of the Mint of Greece, and it shows in all Greek euro coins destined for circulation, as well as in all Greek collectors' coins.
Gallery
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Assyrian palmette on a relief with Ashurnasirpal II, 9th century BC, alabaster, Pergamon Museum, Berlin
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Black-and-white photo with Achaemenid glazed ceramic bricks with a palmette, c. 6th–4th century BC, glazed ceramic, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City
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Ancient Greek palmettes on the Achilles and Ajax playing dice amphora, by Exekias, 550-525 BC, pottery, Vatican Museums
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Ancient Greek band of palmettes on a vessel, c. 510 BC, potter, Staatliche Antikensammlungen, Munich, Germany
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Ancient Greek bands of palmettes (a horizontal one and a vertical one) on a vessel, c. 510 BC, pottery, Staatliche Antikensammlungen
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Ancient Greek band of palmettes and scrolls on a vessel, c. 510-470 BC, pottery, Staatliche Antikensammlungen
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Ancient Greek detail of anErechtheum, Athens, 421–405 BC,[34]unknown architect
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Ancient Greek palmette of a grave stele, mid-4th century, marble, Archaeological Museum of Piraeus, Piraeus, Greece
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Ancient Greek acroterion decorated with a double palmette, c. 350–325 BC, marble, Metropolitan Museum of Art
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Ancient Greek capital of an Ionic column of the Erechtheum, with a band of palmettes under it
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Ancient Greek palmette of the Tomb of the Palmettes , Mieza, Greece, first half of the 3rd century BC[36]
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Ancient Greek polychrome palmettes, illustrated by Jacques Ignace Hittorff, 1830 (published in 1851)[37]
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Ptolemaic inlay with two palmettes, 100 BC–100 AD, glass, Metropolitan Museum of Art
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Baroque mascaron with a palmette above it, on the façade of the Hôtel d'Aubray (Rue Charles-V no. 12), Paris, unknown architect, 17th century
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Jean Lamour, 1755
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Madame Récamier, by Georges II Jacob and François-Honoré-Georges Jacob-Desmalter, before 1799, mahogany, ebony, copper, gilt bronze mounts and white marble, Louvre
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Neoclassical metal palmette on a table in the Panthéon, Paris, unknown architect, 18th or 19th centuries
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Neoclassical wrought iron detail of a door of the Louvre Colonnade, with rinceaux, two palmettes and a N for Napoleon, unknown architect, c.1810
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Neoclassical grille of door of Rue de Cléry no. 29, Paris, unknown architect, c.1850
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Neoclassical palmettes on the Hristu House (Calea Victoriei no. 129), Bucharest, Romania, unknown architect, 1871
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Romanian Revival palmette on the dome of the Vlahuți-Slătineanu Grave in the Bellu Cemetery, Bucharest, by Grigore Cerkez, c.1900
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Baroque Revival palmette, very similar to those from the Louis XIV style, of a wrought railing in the Château Burrus (Rue Maurice Burrus no. 74) Sainte-Croix-aux-Mines, France, by Jules Berninger and Gustave Krafft, 1900
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, unknown architect, designed most probably around 1900, but the metro station was inaugurated in 1931
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Beaux-Arts palmette in Palatul Cercului Militar Național (Bulevardul Regina Elisabeta no. 20), Bucharest, by Dimitrie Maimarolu, 1911-1923
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Neoclassical palmettes of 195 Broadway, New York, by William W. Bosworth, 1912-1922
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Art Deco palmettes at Strada Ion Brezoianu no. 58, Bucharest, by George Damian, c.1930
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Highly-stylized Art Deco palmette on the Congress Hotel (Ocean Drive no. 1036), Miami Beach, Florida, US, by Henry Hohauser, 1936
See also
- Acroterion
- Blue Egyptian Water Lily
- Tomb of the Palmettes
- Indo-Corinthian capital
- Pataliputra capital
Notes
- ^ "Silver jewelry, judaica and Christian gifts – Sterling Silver Jerusalem Hamsa". Caspi Silver. Archived from the original on 29 February 2008. Retrieved 23 November 2011.
- ^ "Eyes of the Swayambhunath stupa, Kathmandu, Nepal". Seth Pollack Photography.
- ^ a b c "Funerary Stela". 150.si.edu. Archived from the original on 10 April 2009. Retrieved 23 November 2011.
- ^ E.H. Gombrich, The Sense of Order, A study in the psychology of decorative art, PHAIDON second edition, London 1984 page 181
- ^ "Page Redirecting". Etc.usf.edu. Retrieved 23 November 2011.
- ^ "Ancient Egyptian Art | Amulet in the shape of a palmette | F1907.436". www.asia.si.edu. Archived from the original on 4 March 2005.
- ^ "Miho Museum". Miho.or.jp. Retrieved 23 November 2011.
- ^ "Błąd połączenia z bazą danych". www.egiptologia.pl. Archived from the original on 6 November 2003.
- ^ http://www.arthistory.upenn.edu/smr04/101910/Slide4.jpg [bare URL image file]
- ^ The Art of Ancient Egypt | Publications for Educators | Explore & Learn | The Metropolitan Museum of Art Archived 2 April 2005 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "FORGOTTEN EMPIRE the world of Ancient Persia | 118". Thebritishmuseum.ac.uk. 23 May 2011. Archived from the original on 14 May 2011. Retrieved 23 November 2011.
- ^ The New Greek Galleries | Explore & Learn | The Metropolitan Museum of Art Archived 11 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Water Jar (Getty Museum)". Getty.edu. 7 May 2009. Archived from the original on 7 June 2011. Retrieved 23 November 2011.
- ^ "Anthemion - Google Search".
- ^ "Palmette - Google Search".
- JSTOR 24049089.
- ^ "Reflections on The origins of Indian Stone Architecture", John Boardman, p. 16 [1]
- ^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 2 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 93.
- ^ "Stone door sill". Betnahrain.org. Archived from the original on 27 September 2011. Retrieved 23 November 2011.
- ^ "Egyptianizing figures on either side of a tree with a winged disk". Metropolitan Museum of Art. Archived from the original on 5 November 2004. Retrieved 23 November 2011.
- ^ "Ivory Plaque depicting a winged sphinx 9th century BC". iraqipages.com. Archived from the original on 20 December 2005.
- ^ "King on either side of a sacred Tree". Betnahrain.org. Archived from the original on 27 September 2011. Retrieved 23 November 2011.
- ^ "Overview". Cinema Treasures. Retrieved 23 November 2011.
- ^ "wroughtironproductions.com". wroughtironproductions.com. Archived from the original on 27 September 2011. Retrieved 23 November 2011.
- ^ "The Classical Style in Norfolk Small Towns, 1720-1800". University of Leicester. 31 January 2001. Archived from the original on 27 March 2005.
- ^ "Oriental Rugs, Salor Images". TurkoTek. Retrieved 23 November 2011.
- ^ "Banque d'images". Imagomag. Archived from the original on 18 May 2021. Retrieved 23 November 2011.
- ^ "Later Tibetan Gallery – Garuda". Artsofasia.biz. Retrieved 23 November 2011.
- ^ "Vajra". Keithdowman.net. Retrieved 23 November 2011.
- ^ "Chinese bat - Google Search".
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 20 December 2005.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "CHINA: THE THREE EMPERORS, 1662–1795: Scholar Collectors". Threeemperors.org.uk. Retrieved 23 November 2011.
- ^ "Highgate Cemetery West : London Cemeteries". londoncemeteries.co.uk. 8 February 2006. Archived from the original on 29 September 2007.
- ^ Rogers, Gumuchdjian & Jones 2014, p. 32.
- ^ "Temple of Apollo at Didyma". brown.edu. Retrieved 6 March 2024.
- ^ Psarra, I. "Ministry of Culture and Sports: Mieza, the so-called Macedonian Tomb of the Palmettes". odysseus.culture.gr. Archived from the original on 3 June 2020. Retrieved 14 April 2019.
- ^ Bergdoll 2000, pp. 176.
References
- ISBN 0-7141-1431-6, British Museum Pubns Ltd, 1984
- Alois Riegl, Stilfragen. Grundlegungen zu einer Geschichte der Ornamentik. Berlin 1893
- Helene J. Kantor, Plant Ornament in the Ancient Near East, Revised: 11 August 1999, Copyright 1999 Oriental Institute, University of Chicago
- Idris Parry, Speak Silence, ISBN 0-85635-790-1, Carcanet Press Ltd., 1988
- Gombrich, Symbolic Images: Studies in the Art of the Renaissance, London, Phaidon, 1972
- Ernst H. Gombrich, The Sense of Order, A Study in the Psychology of Decorative Art, Phaidon, 1985
External links
- Ancient Egypt, the tree of life
- Plant Ornament : Its Origin and Development in the Ancient Near East Archived 12 July 2020 at the Wayback Machine
- Palmettes in Fine Weavings Archived 21 December 2014 at the Wayback Machine