Scroll (ornament)

“ Fig. 481.—Theoretical development of the current scroll.
One secret of modification is found in the use of a radical in more than one art, owing to differences in constructional characters. For example, the tendency of nearly all woven fabrics is to encourage, even to compel, the use of straight lines in the decorative designs applied. Thus the attempt to employ curved lines would lead to stepped or broken lines. ”

“ IRON-WORK, as an ornament in medieval architecture, is chiefly confined to the hinges, &c., of doors and of church chests, &c. Specimens of Norman iron-work are very rare. Early English specimens are numerous and very elaborate. In some instances not only do the hinges become a mass of scroll work, but the surface of the doors is covered by similar ornaments. In both these periods the design evidently partakes of the feeling exhibited in the stone or wood carving. In the Decorated period the scroll work is more graceful, and, like the foliage of the time, more natural. ”

“ In the interior of churches specimens of the wood-work of this style are very common, and may be perceived by the shallow and flat carved panelling, with round arches, arabesques, scroll-work, and other nondescript ornament peculiar to the age, with which the pews, reading-desks, and pulpits are often adorned. The screens of this period are constructed in a semi-classic style of design, with features and details of [149] English growth, and are often surmounted with scroll-work, shields, and other accessories. ”

“ The method of its application to the kylikes as a handle-ornament, linked thereto by a scroll, has already been treated in detail (Vol. I. p. 413) ; it first appears on the Cyrenaic cups, and is usually employed by the “minor artists” of the B.F. period. ”

“ Passing by the many simple elements of decoration that by this unconscious process could be derived from such sources, let me give a single example by which it will be seen that not only elementary forms but even so highly constituted an ornament as the scroll may have been brought thus naturally into the realm of decorative art. The sea-shell has always been intimately associated with the arts that utilize clay and abounds in suggestions of embellishment. The Busycon was almost universally employed as a vessel by the tribes of the Atlantic drainage of North America. ”

“ There were no paintings or engravings on the walls, which, however, were not entirely devoid of pictorial embellishment. Four neatly cut pieces of drawing-paper were tacked thereon--north, south, east, and west--bearing each a couplet beautifully written within an illuminated scroll. The colors of the scrolls were green and gold, and the verses were written in shining Indian ink.
On the tablet on the north wall the lines ran:
He whose soul by love is quickened, never can to death be hurled;
Written is my life immortal in the records of the world. ”

“ A piece out of the ear or first turn from the axis is, with a delicately carved scroll, so frequently seen as to be almost fashionable; little pieces out of the edges further off from the central part, are common disfigurements. Modern vandals rub these parts down with a file or glasspaper, to make it nice and even to their vision, saving themselves time and trouble. Many a graceful scroll, carved with loving care and enviable dexterity by a master of his art, has thus come to an untimely end. ”

“ The harmony of colors is the controlling factor in the art scheme of a color-wrought scroll. Once perfectly familiar with this, the ambitious student should encounter no insurmountable hindrances to success as a scroll worker in colors. Referring to the relief scrolls which illustrate the text of this chapter, we would call attention to Fig. 1. If this be executed in gold it may, as previously suggested, be shaded with asphaltum, or asphaltum and yellow lake can be used, and the high lights done in a light tone of Naples yellow. ”

“ The beauty of illuminations is always best secured when the scrollwork runs gracefully smooth, not broken or angular, which gives it an awkward and unartistic appearance. In order to 27 prepare the pupil, I have given, in the illustrations, the arabesque scroll and curval lines to be drawn at the beginning in pencil only; and when form is thoroughly attained, let him re-execute it with a fine sable brush and carmine, which will give proper practice to use the brush effectually. I have adopted the arabesque scroll as the principle of all ornamental design ”

“ Their work is marked by great judgment in varying the sizes of the iron bars and scrolls, by the variety and elaboration of the design, and by the judicious introduction of thin sheet iron, hammered and modelled into foliage or some heraldic device. The craftsmen seem to have known exactly how to handle their material so as to combine strength with lightness, vigour with delicacy, the open effect of scroll-work with the solid effect of foliage. ”

“ This is deposited in masses, which possess characteristic forms. Thus this roll, which looks as if [Pg 43] you had made a thin ribbon of paste, half an inch wide, and rolled it into a loose scroll of two or three turns, and then affixed it by its edge to the under side of a stone, is the spawn-mass of the Sea Lemon. And here is a much more elegant scroll, of which the constituent is a slender thread, twisted into a frilled or figure-8 form, as it goes on to make the spire. [19] This has been laid by the beautiful Crowned Eolis. ”

“ When the more solid ornaments are securely attached to the frontal, the scroll-work belonging to them may be added as far as can be reached without interfering with the tucks in the linen, which may then be let out. ”

“ The foliation of the scrolls in the same relief (Plate IX) has a character which makes us wonder how a designer who could so finely render the nervous life of leafage could associate with this leafage the lifeless details just noticed, and the further monstrosities of the axial composition including the characterless grotesque animals out of which the scroll leafage issues. ”

“ Animals, real and fictitious, flowers, leaves, fruit, the human form, etc., were conventionalized and made to contribute their part to enhance the beauty of the whole. Some of the principal characteristics of the Cinquecento style are the delicate arabesque scroll work, the profusion and beauty of the curves, its admirable variations of standard classic ornaments, such as the anthemion and scroll. ”

“ They certainly show, the Athenæum says, that a variety of designs can be derived from the adaptation of scroll work to the outlines of the human face, and exhibit much technical skill in dealing with an intractable material. ”

“ As this black scroll slowly unrolled before his spirit’s eye, this black scroll, on which the characters and images gleamed forth so red and fiery, it is no wonder that he writhed and groaned and gnashed his teeth—it is no wonder that he started up and trod the narrow cell with the step of a maniac [212] —that he stopped and ground his heel in the dust—that he rushed to the window and shook the iron bars, with unavailing rage—that he called on God to help him—not in the fervor of faith, but the recklessness of frenzy, the impotence of despair. ”

“ One thing astounds and almost frightens us, however far we may be, which is the mysterious old painted glass, at the farthest end of the church, on which the design is no longer distinguishable, twinkling in the shade, like an illegible magic scroll of unknown characters. ”

“ The fine reds and blues are hurt by the use of too much green—a common fault at that time. We must look to the nave windows (all of three lancets) for the other glazing of that period. The middle embrasure on the northerly side is beautified by the tasteful use of written scrolls, which wind about the figures and the columns of simulated architecture. Scrolls are also used in the next one to the east, but there they are not so important a part of the decoration. On the southerly side of the nave the embrasures nearest to the west and to the east have single figures in canopy. ”

“ If it reached the bottom ten tefachim and the wall is slanted such that the scroll can rest on it, it is forbidden to roll it back; so that it is not mistreated, he should turn it around onto the text. If the wall is not slanted, as long as it has not reached the ground, he may roll it back. ”

“ If a man reads in a scroll (of sacred scriptures) on the threshold of the house, and the scroll slips out of his hand, he may draw it back again. If a man reads in a scroll of the scriptures on the roof of his house and the scroll slips out of his hand, he may, if it has not rolled down for a distance of ten spans (from public ground) , draw it up again ”

“ That evening, after dinner, she rapped on my door: she is very tall, very ele­gant; dressed in an Egyptian gown, she made a little bow, and presented me with a bronze stylus.
“It will be better than your wooden one,” she said.
While enjoying my stylus someone brought me a dish of lemon paste.
ÿ
Sadly, more than twenty years have passed since our Nazareth synagogue ac­quired a scroll. Our scrolls are in tatters and all are asked to refrain from using them. Learning this, Clibus has offered several scrolls. ”

“ In the matter of ornamental work, there are other details and plans in vogue among experienced turners, which can only be alluded to, not discussed at length, for the reason that the styles are so numerous that an elaborate work might be made of them alone, with great profit. The scroll chuck or geometrical chuck, as it is sometimes called, is a complicated piece of mechanism, too costly for general use, and too limited in its application, to mechanics in general, to be of much utility. ”

“ No matter which segment of the scroll we see at one time, it makes a beautiful composition, although when we examine it as a whole it possesses no more unity than a river landscape seen from a moving boat. Linked-verse at its best produces a somewhat similar effect. ”

“ X. Inscriptions appear sometimes to be introduced for the sake of the scroll on which they are written; and in late and modern painted glass, as well as in architecture, these scrolls are flourished and turned hither and thither as if they were ornamental. Ribands occur frequently in arabesques—in some of a high order, too—tying up flowers, or flitting in and out among the fixed forms. Is there anything like ribands in nature? It might be thought that grass and seaweed afforded apologetic types. They do not. There is a wide difference between their structure and that of a riband. ”

“ In common with the other Ch’ien Lung types, the blue and white vases are often of archaic bronze form, and decorated with bronze patterns such as borders of stiff leaves, dragon feet and ogre heads. Another favourite ornament is a close pattern of floral scrolls studded with lotus or peony flowers, often finely drawn but inclined to be small and fussy. These scrolls are commonly executed in the blotchy blue described on p. 13, and the darker shades are often thickly heaped up in palpable relief with a marked tendency to run into drops. ”

“ The ornamental arabesque scroll, from its primitive simplicity to the most elaborately finished foliage, interlaced initials, etc., are given in due succession for the pupil to copy; by which means his hand becomes gradually trained to curval delineations, and his eyes get by degrees educated, till at last all angular tendency in his ornamentations is entirely eradicated. Once trained to that perfection, colouring and shading become comparatively easy, and a little instruction, with practice, will enable the hitherto uneducated artist to overcome almost every obstacle. ”

“ These bowls, too, are a close imitation of metal-work, especially in the arrangement of the reliefs. The ornament usually consists of long leaves and scrolls radiating from a rosette on the foot and bordered above by bands of wave- or tongue-pattern, scrolls, or garlands; the ground is filled in with stars, shields, and other devices. In the finer examples a frieze of figures is added, with such motives as Erotes, masks, dolphins, and ox-skulls repeated. ”

“ If the scroll is erased, and she says “I am impure,” the waters are poured out and her offering is scattered on the ashes. If the scroll is erased and she says “I will not drink,” they chide and they make her drink against her will. ”

“ The apex and a few of the surrounding nodes are shown at the right, while the base or spine forms a projecting lip at the left. A coil of clay forms the apex. This is carried outward in a sinistral spiral to the noded shoulder. We have here a suggestion of the origin of a favorite decorative motive, the scroll, a clew, however, which the paucity of examples makes it difficult to follow up satisfactorily. ”

“ The Egyptians formed it from the bud and blossom; and the pattern is found in India, Greece, and Rome, changing continually and yet retaining its identity. Vitruvius claimed to have given it the last touch and finish, so that in Italy it was called the Vitruvian scroll; and it is common to all decoration, even in textiles, though it is hardly suited for weaving or embroidery. This is one of the earliest patterns which, having ceased long ago to be a religious emblem or sign, still survives by its decorative fitness, and perpetuates the echoes of its origin. ”

“ The motives on the pilasters were of two kinds: the continuous scroll, starting from a strong base leaf and rising in equal volutes, with alternating direction to right and to left, and filling the panel. This motive needed always to be balanced by its opposite, and was consequently seldom used. ”