The Styles of Ornament

by Alexander Speltz

There is no larger collection of ornament in print anywhere today. This more than 600 page volume contains 3765 different illustrations on 400 full page plates! Indispensable for artists, designers, illustrators, architects, craftsmen, students, and anyone else searching for distinctive, authentic design, individual illustrations are royalty-free—buy the book and thousands of unusual drawing are yours for the using.
Where are the ornaments from? The vanished civilizations of ancient Egypt, Babylonia, Persia, Phoenicia, Judah, India, Greece, Rome, Pompeii, the Celts, the Etruscans; from China, Japan, Arabia, India, Cambodia; from Russia, Scandinavia, the United States, Germany, France, Italy, England, Austria, Spain, and other countries.
What periods are covered? Prehistoric and primitive; antiquity; the Middle Ages, including early-Christian ornaments of the Lombards, Visigoths, Franks, and Byzantines, Romanesque ornament, Mohammedan ornament, and Gothic ornament; Renaissance ornament in Florence, Venice, Portugal, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Poland; Rococo ornament throughout Europe; Colonial style in the United nineteenth century classical revival, with designs of Sheraton and Hepplewhite; Empire; and Biedermeier and Neoclassical ornament in Germany.
What design elements and objects? Gargoyles; Buddhas; dragons; capitals, bases, and shafts of columns; necklaces, rings, other jewelry; urns, vases; friezes; buildings of brick, wood, stone; tables, chairs, mirrors, chests, hardware; tapestries and cloths; statues; suits of armor, helmets, lances; mitres; fantastic animals, centaurs, cupids; religious objects; keyholes; sedan chair; bridges; coats of arms; and hundreds of others. This wide spectrum of styles will almost literally be a bottomless treasury of source material that you will use again and again, each time finding something different.

Genres: Art, Reference

656 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1959

Reviews

[Mephistopheles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very comprehensive, and the illustrations are excellent. Extremely useful book.

[Oz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Doric, Ionic and Corinthian all get plenty of exposure in this copyright free illustrated masterpiece from the early 20th century. it's not just the Greeks who are represented, Cambodia gets some, Rome gets some , even some American Colonial style for good measure. really though its about the intricate drawings, 3765 of them to be exact!

[Kusnady dharmawan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good guide to study ornaments

[Tony]

Filled with examples categorized by style. Mostly generic decoration (out-of-context) and decorative arts. Great to look at but again removes style from context.

[Deborah · Rating 3 out of 5]

VERY useful to this day- I have been able to look up a particular era's style and suggest it to the set designer at the local Little Theater when we did certain shows.

[Sean Evans]

The Styles of Ornament by Alexander Speltz (1959)