ORNAMENT (OF., Fr. ornemcnt, from Lat. ornainetum, adornment, from (,rnarc, to adorn. equip). In general, any adornment executed not for its own sake. but for that of the object or structure to which it is applied; in a narrower sense, any motive or element in a decorative scheme or pattern. Ornament has always been an important department of architectural design, because, however possible it may he theoretically to impart to buildings. by mere excellence of composition and proportion, that beauty without which they are merely works of engineering. in actual fact the arts of architecture mid of in dustrial design have always depended chiefly for the beauty of their products upon time judicious use of ornament, and the various historic styles are most readily distinguished by the character of their ornament. Ornament has, in turn, in its historic developments followed the lead of architecture, and its styles are as clearly marked; for the decorator, however free in theory to de sign according to an unfettered fancy. has in all ages been dominated by the limitations of tradi tion, inheritance, custom, and circumstance, which have constrained him into habitual and established ways of designing.
Ornament is classified according to various categories. That which belongs to immovable structures is called architectural ornament; the ornament of movable structures (furniture) and objects is industrial. Ornament whose form is determined by structural features, or which is an inherent part of the structural framework, is called structural ornament; such are capitals and bases, moldings and cornices, finials and corhels. That which is added to a structure or object which has already received definite form is called applied ornament such are all inlays, mosaic, painted ornament, and plaster-work. Ornament produced by relief or depression is called plastic or glyptir ornament. and includes all carved, engraved, chased. and molded orna ment; while ornament by color. whether of mo saic, inlay. painting, enamel, or stained glass. is chromatie ornament. When the forms of orna ment are purely or fanciful.. they are said to be conventional. as in Moorish and Sara eenie decoration: when copied more or less closely from animal or vegetable forms. they are natural istic; when natural forms are subjected to a decorative regularization. they constitute conren tionalkcd natural ornament such are the aean thus-leaves of the Corinthian capital and the foli age of early Gothic carving. Grotesques are deco native combinations of heterogeneous natural forms, as in griffins, sphinxes, Gothic gargoyles, and the like.
Apparently all primitive and savage ornament and most ancient Oriental ornament was origi nally magical or fetishistic (sec FETISHISM), and the artificial symbolism of classic and modern ornament is a survival of this primitive magical significance. Conventional ornament has arisen partly from the gradual 'decay' of originally sym bolic forms, partly from the manipulations of pottery, basketry. weaving. and metal work. Structural ornament, which the Greeks were the first to develop into importance, has always de rived many of its forms from obsolete structural processes—as the triglyph and dentil from obso lete systems of wooden construction. Structural ornament was carried to the highest perfection by the mediteval church-builders, who developed an entirely new system of decorative structural forms in working out the problem of a three aisled vaulted structure of stone (see GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE) : clustered shafts. capitals, vault ing-ribs, pinnacles, tracery. etc., were at once structural necessities and decorative embellish ments; and all the minor details grew up as the result of this structural development. The Ro man system, revived in the Renaissance and al most universally followed to-day, was to erect a structure of coarse materials and then clothe it in a decorative garment of marble incrusta tion, stucco, and applied ornament; and the By zantines and the Mohammedan nations developed the use of applied color, by means of mosaic. stucco, tiles. etc., in different directions to a wonderful pitch of splendor. Ornament has in different lands and periods received notable de velopments outside of architecture, as in the textile arts, in pottery, china, and porcelain ; in goldsmith's work and enamel; in furniture, in manuscript illumination, typography, and book binding. The Western nations have excelled, as a rule, in form: the Eastern nations in color. Chinese and Japanese art has never been sur passed in its handling of color ornament in porcelains and earthenwares. and it also excels in minute carvings in ivory and castings in bronze.
BIBLIOGRAPHY. Owen Jones. Grammar of OrBibliography. Owen Jones. Grammar of Or- nament (London, 185(3) Racinet. L'ornemcnt polychrome (Paris, 1885-S7); Viollet-le-Due. De la Vcoration appliqurle aux eilifices (ib.. 1894) ; Wornum, Analysis of Ornament (London. 1874) ; Haddon. Evolution in Art (ib., 1S95) ; Ward, Elementary Principles of Ornament (ib., 1890), and Historic Ornament (lb., 1897) ; and Hamlin, "The Evolution of Decorative Motives," in the American Architect for 1898-190].