On the side of design, the decorative arts make use of pictorial representation, not only in mural painting and decorative sculpture, but also in the minor arts, as in painted vases, mosaics and stained glass. Both the human figure and the forms of animals are prolific ele ments in the decorative arts of almost all ages and peoples, with the exception of the majority of the Mohammedan arts, which exclude all realistic portrayals of living beings, even of plants. Flowers and foliage are conspicuous in certain styles of decorative art (see PLANTS, ORNAMENTAL), but these are usually conven tionalized, not represented in a purely realistic way. The original purpose of decorative repre sentations of living form has usually been symbolic or allegorical, or even, in the more primitive arts, animistic. But as each art has developed, such forms have come to be used more and more for their purely decorative value, their original symbolic significance be ing gradually lost. Along with these, all styles of decoration have developed other forms, purely ornamental, as motives which they have combined into patterns (conventional orna ment), having little or no symbolic significance, but serving purely as embellishments, enrich ing the object by a pleasing play and variation of line, light-and-shade and color, through the rhythmic repetitions, alternations, variations and contrasts of the pattern. The Mohammedan races, deprived of the resource of naturalistic representation, have developed the art of sur face patterning with purely geometric motives to an extraordinary degree of variety and splendor. See MOHAMMEDAN ART.
History.,— Decoration is the earliest form of expression of man's esthetic instinct. The fine arts had their birth in primitive efforts to embellish the person or to beautify objects of personal or ceremonial use. (See ABORIGINAL Asa). With the advance of civilization, to the primitive arts of weaving, pottery and wood carving was added architecture, in the effort to adorn the cave, hut or kraal of the tribe or of its fetish or gods. Later the art of smelt ing metals enabled men to make tools of copper or bronze, later of iron and steel, superior to the primitive flint knives and axes. Decorative metal-work, jewelry and architectural sculpture and carving now began to advance to higher achievements than had been dreamed of before, and painting was applied to walls and ceilings with great effect. These developments took place first, some of years in the Nile Valley, while in the valley of the Tigris Euphrates a parallel development was going on, with brick and tile as the chief building ma terials, in place of stone. In both regions tex tile art was Carried to a very high pitch of decorative beauty, and gold, silver, bronze and glass as well as pottery were employed for dishes and vases of great elegance of form and richness of decoration.
These various arts were disseminated through the Mediterranean basin by Phoenician com merce, and contributed to the formation of Greek decorative art, which, developing after the middle of the 7th century s.c., excelled in two fields especially — architectural carving and sculpture, and pottery; although, indeed, the Greeks °touched nothing that they did not adorn?' The Roman civilization, developing later and borrowing freely from the Greek, carried the art of architectural carving to even higher perfection, at least in variety and splen dor, especially during the Imperial Age, from 27 B.C. to 313 A.D. The Romans made the first systematic applications of mosaic to architec tural decoration. This art was taken up by the Byzantines in the 5th century A.D. and employed by them in wall and vault decorations of unsur passed splendor, for at least eight centuries, in Italy as well as in their own empire. They
also excelled in ecclesiastical goldsmith's work, in enameling on metal, in needlework and in manuscript illumination. See BYZANTINE ART.
The Middle Ages witnessed the growth of two distinct systems of decorative art: that of the Christian world in Europe generally, which culminated in the superb triumphs of Gothic architecture, carving, stained glass and manu script illumination, besides enamel and metal work in France and inlay and mosaic in Italy: and that of the Mohammedan peoples in west ern Asia, northern Africa, Spain and India. This Oriental art was especially rich in surface decoration (as in the stucco wall-paneling of the Moors), and in various forms of textile art—carpets, rugs and needlework. To this day the great peoples of Asia, the Chinese Japanese and Hindus, as well as the Moham medans of Persia, Turkey and parts of Arabia, are consummate masters of the minor arts. The decorative arts of the non-Moslems of India and of the Chinese and Japanese form a group by themselves apart from the European developments, which they surpass in variety and richness of minute patterning, and in harmonies of brilliant colors, if not in intellectual quality.
The Renaissance, from 1400 on, revived many of the antique Roman forms, but de veloped them on new lines. While stained glass passed out of general use, mural painting, from as far back as 1300 under Giotto (q.v.), took its place in Italy and spread thence into all countries. (See PAINTING). All the arts of wood, stone, metal and textiles were marvel ously expanded, enriched and developed. Italy took the lead in all these arts except that of decorative sculpture, in which France has led ever since the early Middle Ages.
The first half of the 19th century was in Europe a period of artistic stagnation. Since then the decorative arts have been revived in all branches, but the development of machine production has greatly modified this develop ment, generally for the worse. Hand-crafts manship has greatly declined; in certain in dustries it has wholly disappeared. On the other hand, the multiplying of factory products has made possible a wider distribution of artis tic manufactures than when only handwork pre vailed. One effort, then, of modern artists is to perfect the design of machine-made products. But another, quite as important, is represented by the °Arts and Crafts* movements of our time, which seek to revive forgotten and neglected handicrafts, to increase the number of individual craftsmen and craftswomen, and to stimulate the public appreciation of the indi viduality, the personal quality, of hand-wrought objects of decorative art— textiles, pottery, china, metal-work, bookbindings, jewelry— as well as of the major arts of mural painting and decorative carving and sculpture. See Ilona's, WILLIAM.
Bibliography.— Consult the bibliographies of the various articles on particular arts and on the art of particular countries or periods. Also Blanc, Ch., 'Grammaire des arts &cora tifs) (Paris 1876) ; Hamlin, A. D. F., 'A His tory of Ornament, Ancient and Medieval> (New York 1916) ; Jones, O., 'Grammar of Ornament> (London 1910) ; Meyer, F. S., 'Handbook of Ornament) (New York 1905) ; Racinet, A., 'L'Ornement polychrome> (Paris 1869-87) ; Sturgis, R., 'A Study of the Artist's Way of Working) (New York 1904), and 'The Interdependence of the Arts) (Chicago 1905) ; Van Pelt, J. V., 'Essentials of Composi tion as Applied to Art) (New York 1913) ; Ward, J. 'Historic Ornament) (Vol. II, Lon don 1898).
Al FRED D. F. HAMLIN, Professor of the History of Architecture, Columbia University.