Wikipedia

Key pattern

Key pattern is the generic term for an interlocking geometric motif made from straight lines or bars that intersect to form rectilinear spiral shapes.[1][2][3] According to Allen and Anderson, the negative space between the lines or bars of a key pattern “resemb[es] the L- or T-shaped slots in an ordinary key to allow it to pass the wards of the lock.”[4]

An example of a key pattern in Insular stone art from Groam House, Scotland.

Key patterns have been discovered and used in ornamentation by a number of global cultures in human history, and are thought to largely have been designed independently of each other.[4][5] The earliest examples of key patterns are seen in textile ornaments from Mezin, Ukraine, dated to approximately 23,000 B.C.[5][6][7] Key patterns were also common in textile and ceramic ornamentation during the Neolithic period, with examples found among archeological discoveries in present-day Fiji, Peru, Mexico, Moldova, Romania, Hungary, Yugoslavia, and Greece,[4][5][6][7] as well as in pre-Christian Celtic art.[1][2][3] The oldest known pair of pants, wool trousers found in a grave dated to approximately 1038-926 B.C. in present-day western China, have a decorative band of key patterns woven into them.[8] In addition, extant examples of early medieval Insular art, such as stone decorations and illuminated manuscripts, as well as Japanese, Chinese, and Islamic decorative arts from different periods, feature key patterns.[3][4][9][10]

Celtic mazes, Greek frets, and xicalcoliuhquis are examples of well-known designs that are considered to be key patterns.[2][4][11]

Gallery edit

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    Key patterns forming a border in the Roman Mosaic of Dioscorides as seen in the Handbook of Archaeology, Egyptian - Greek - Etruscan - Roman (1867)
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    Key patterns seen in architectural details at El Tajín, a pre-Columbian archaeological site in southern Mexico.
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    A detail of key patterns from a Greek painted terracotta amphora from 8th century B.C. in the collection of the Archaeological Museum of Athens
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    A fragment of an engaged column carved from limestone, with key patterns, rosettes, and acanthus leaves, from a 6th-century monastic community in Bawit, Egypt.
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    A fragment from a limestone frieze with diagonal key patterns and rosettes from 6th century Byzantine Egypt, in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
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    Rectilinear key patterns seen among other ornaments on a bronze Chinese cooking vessel from the Shang dynasty.
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    A decorative paper sheet with paisley and Greek key patterns printed in relief from 18th century Italy in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
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    A wool rug ca.1900-1920 from the Navajo people in the Early Crystal style, with key patterns forming the outer border.
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    Vintage Japanese designs of key patterns from The Practical Decorator and Ornamentist by G.A & M.A. Audsley
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    Vintage Japanese border designs using key patterns from The Practical Decorator and Ornamentist by G.A & M.A. Audsley
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    Antique Greek border designs of key patterns and other ornaments from The Practical Decorator and Ornamentist by G.A & M.A. Audsley
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    Variations in decorative key patterns from the Handbook of Ornament; A Grammar of Art, Industrial and Architectural Designing in All Its Branches, for Practical as well as Theoretical Use (1900)
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    Cushion Cover, 17th century. Kongo textiles, Kongo peoples; The Kingdom of Kongo. Ethnographic Museum, Stockholm.

References edit

  1. ^ a b Hull, Derek (2003). Celtic and Anglo-Saxon art : geometric aspects. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press. ISBN 0-85323-549-X. OCLC 52695754.
  2. ^ a b c Bain, Iain (1994). Celtic key patterns. New York: Sterling Pub. Co. ISBN 0-8069-0740-1. OCLC 29428299.
  3. ^ a b c Thickpenney, Cynthia (2020). "Making Key pattern in Insular art: The Harley Golden Gospels and Kilmartin Cross". Peopling Insular Art: Practice, Performance, Perception. Cynthia Thickpenny, Katherine Forsyth, J. Geddes, Kate Mathis. Oxford, UK: Oxbow Books. ISBN 978-1-78925-455-6. OCLC 1180971230.
  4. ^ a b c d e Allen, J. Romilly; Anderson, Joseph; Society of Antiquaries of Scotland (1903). The early Christian monuments of Scotland. Edinburgh: Printed by Neill & co., limited. p. 308.
  5. ^ a b c Radovic, Ljilana; Jablan, Slavik (2001). "Antisymmetry and Modularity in Ornamental Art" (PDF). Bridges: Mathematical Connections in Art, Music, and Science [Conference Proceedings]: 55–65.
  6. ^ a b Jablan, Slavik (2005). "Modularity in Art". Modularity : understanding the development and evolution of natural complex systems. Werner Callebaut, Diego Rasskin-Gutman. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press. ISBN 978-0-262-26969-8. OCLC 62098419.
  7. ^ a b Jablan, Slavik; Radović, Ljiljana (2011-08-09). Glanville, Ranulph (ed.). "Do you like paleolithic op‐art?". Kybernetes. 40 (7/8): 1045–1054. doi:10.1108/03684921111160287. ISSN 0368-492X.
  8. ^ Beck, Ulrike; Wagner, Mayke; Li, Xiao; Durkin-Meisterernst, Desmond; Tarasov, Pavel E. (2014-10-20). "The invention of trousers and its likely affiliation with horseback riding and mobility: A case study of late 2nd millennium BC finds from Turfan in eastern Central Asia". Quaternary International. The Bridging Eurasia Research Initiative: Modes of mobility and sustainability in the palaeoenvironmental and archaeological archives from Eurasia. 348: 224–235. doi:10.1016/j.quaint.2014.04.056. ISSN 1040-6182.
  9. ^ Herringham, Christiana J. (1909). "Notes on Oriental Carpet Patterns-VI. Meander and Key Patterns". The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs. 15 (74): 98–104. ISSN 0951-0788. JSTOR 857910.
  10. ^ Wilson, Eva (1988). Islamic designs for artists and craftpeople. New York: Dover Publications. ISBN 0-486-25819-X. OCLC 18134247.
  11. ^ Özkar, Mine; Lefford, Nyssim (2006). "Modal relationships as stylistic features: Examples from Seljuk and Celtic patterns". Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology. 57 (11): 1551–1560. doi:10.1002/asi.20431. ISSN 1532-2890.
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