What is an ornament and what is its magic

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-17 12:36

Ornament is the frozen magic of eternal rhythms. It is woven from stylized symbols that encode human relationships, the whole world around and ideas about it, about life, about death, about eternity. This definition is somewhat poetic, but not scientific enough. So what is an ornament from the point of view of geometry, art criticism and even semiotics, since individual symbols of it perform, among others, a communicative function? The simplest figures, which make up a more complex pattern, are the same for almost all cultures. Differences manifest themselves in something else - in the frequency and features of the image of a particular symbol. Some peoples often observe circles as a symbol of the sun, while others have a spiral as a symbol of eternity. Geometric ornaments are made up of elements such as:

• winding line - a symbol of water and the variability of the world;
• circle is a sign of the sun and infinity;
• cross is a symbol of masculine (heaven) and feminine (earth).

Everything that happens in the world is cyclical, subject to rhythms that permeate the whole life of nature. Rhythm creates vibration. And this is life - so says science. day andnight, summer and winter, high tide and low tide - everything is governed by one common rhythm. Man always felt his presence, knew about him and reflected this knowledge in the ornament, which

is a plane with rhythmically repeating elements located on it. Basic knowledge of geometry is enough to understand what an ornament is as a complex of graphic signs.

Cross as an element of ornament and amulet

It is fair to consider geometry the basis of any ornament, since the whole world consists of lines and volumes. However, in addition to the actual geometric pattern, there are also vegetative, zoomorphic, anthropomorphic. These species are distinguished by the motives expressed in them. Ancient man in general perceived all objects of the surrounding world as signs of some secret, unmanifested content, mysterious meaning. It is not surprising that pagan symbols are so firmly established in all religions. On the example of the cross, it is easy to understand what an ornament is as an expression of divine truth, as a certain ritual attribute. For Christians, this is a talisman, a symbol of God, sacrifice, repentance, salvation. The cross as an element of a magical pattern is present in Ukrainian embroidered shirts

x and towels, in Russian embroidered shirts, in the national clothes of many other, not necessarily Christian, peoples.

Ornament today

In architecture and arts and crafts, ornaments used to be used both as elements of magical protection and as decoration. Today the magic functionreduced to nothing, only the decorative one has been preserved. Traditionally, the architectural ornament was carved in stone, Russian carving - in wood. Rarely cast in gold, silver, bronze. Gypsum and clay were also used. Paint was applied to the surface of the finished ornament, the colors were selected in strict accordance with tradition. In modern architecture, such a pattern is not particularly popular, and when they resort to it, they don’t really care about observing traditions both in the inscriptions of signs and in color design. But interior designers are very willing to exploit its decorative capabilities, although, as a rule, they do not have a deep idea of what an ornament is. So it turns out that in our bedrooms, created according to the latest fashion, very often there are signs-antagonists, the neighborhood of which our ancestors would never have allowed. What if the ornament really has magical powers, and we risk falling under its power? Worth considering!