The Greek ornament is actual and today

Greek ornaments today become extremely relevant in the design of clothing, household items, architecture, furniture decorations, costume jewelery and even tattoos. This is due to the fact that it was in Greece, in the 9th-8th centuries BC, vessels appeared decorated with graceful silhouette, girdle, lucid or geometric repeating patterns.

Greek Ornament

First, the vases in Greece were decorated with monophonic, girdling products, patterns. Basically, the Greek ornament contained a geometric pattern: zigzags, triangles, combinations of horizontal and vertical segments of straight lines. Gradually it became more complicated. And now between the friezes - the so-called horizontal stripes - began to be placed figures of animals and people. Today Greek designs and ornaments are widely used in contemporary design art. Very often the veil is decorated with a Greek ornament. Photos of modern dishes, decorated in a similar style, convey the perfection and beauty of table objects - they look rich and exquisite.

The main distinctive features of the Greek ornament

1. This, of course, a clear symmetry, the correctness of geometric shapes.
2. Use of mythology stories.
3. Plots taken from the surrounding nature, but recycled, so to speak, stylized.
4. Wide application of a meander - round or square - with inclusion of a basket and pearls; Egg-shaped variants of patterns - ovaries.
5. For the design of friezes are often taken such elements as stylized images of leaves of aloe, vines, honeysuckle, laurel leaves, olive trees and water plants.
6. The image of the bull's head is widespread as animal motifs.

Origin of ornament details

Everyone knows that in ancient times, when there was no written language, a person transmitted his emotions and knowledge through certain signs. That's why every line in the picture, each point or circle carried certain information. The circle, for example, was the personification of the Sun, and the square symbolized the Earth. Triangles of ancient people depicted the mountains, and a spiral - development or movement. And at first these elements were used for writing. By applying various symbols to the bottom of the dishes or to the reverse sides of the ornaments, the person thereby made a charm for the future owner of the thing or imposed a plot for luck in hunting, love, happiness. But someone noticed that the inscriptions, composed of short but repeated signs, contain, in addition to the main function, aesthetic value. So there was the first Greek ornament, which was not applied to the hidden part of the object from the human eyes, but to its surface, so that each person could delight his eyes with the correctness of the lines, with the grace of patterns, to plunge into the harmony and expressiveness of the drawing. And the stories taken from mythology, to all other things, still contain the element of knowledge. And if someone is lucky enough to consider a real ancient Greek object adorned with ornaments - for example, an ancient Greek amphora - then it is unlikely that he will remain indifferent: such aesthetic, elegant, highly artistic patterns cover ancient masterpieces of Greek ornamental paintings.