3,000 Decorative Patterns of the Ancient World

by William Matthew Flinders Petrie

Mythical animals, florals, rosettes, religious and secular symbols, more.

Genres: Art, Reference, Nonfiction, Design

106 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1911

About the author

Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie FRS, known as Flinders Petrie, was an English Egyptologist and a pioneer of systematic methodology in archaeology. He held the first chair of Egyptology in the United Kingdom, and excavated at many of the most important archaeological sites in Egypt, such as Naukratis, Tanis, Abydos and Amarna. Some consider his most famous discovery to be that of the Merneptah Stele. Petrie developed the system of dating layers based on pottery and ceramic findings.

Reviews

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is strictly a reference for patterns. That seems quite obvious, given the title, but I wish to be clear that this book does not contain very many examples of fine draftsmanship or artistic technique.

At worst (many of the animal motifs) the drawings look almost childlike. At best (some of the braided patterns) they are merely attractive at first glance. Do no expect masterful engraving or pen work, as you will find none.

However, as a broad sampling of the many types of ornamentation created in human history in non-chronological order, this makes a fine catalog. If you look to the top of each of the illustration plates, you will find titles such as "Foliage" or "Arabesques" or "Angular Plait, Norse, Lombard." This is very useful for finding authentic patterns of a similar nature.

Some of the illustrations have helpful descriptions underneath such as "Hittite Cylinder..." or "700? Bologna" which at least gives you an idea of what the origin might be. But for the most part, you're faced with "Chiusi M.I.225.7" from which you must extract various abbreviations and/or Roman Numerals to look up in the text at the beginning of the book. Of course, this ridiculously terse cross-referencing is an artifact of the original book's 1930 printing origins. Somebody needs to re-set this thing on a computer and collate the notes with the illustrations.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been so fascinated with this book. I got it at half priced books and I'm so happy I did. I've been dipping myself in patterns and repetition with oil pastels and I found this book at exactly the right time. I was looking for something like this but did not know how to look for it and was instead looking at lots of crafting and quilting books and observing the patterns there. but this is what I needed!! looking at similarities between different motifs and how to connect things has been so fun for me