TURKISH ORNAMENT.
distribution of form, and in all the principles of ornamentation, as the
most elaborate and important
article of decoration.
The only examples we have of perfect ornamentation are to be found in Turkey
carpets; but
these are chiefly executed in Asia Minor, and most probably not by Turks.
   The designs are
thoroughly Arabian, differing from Persian carpets in being much more conventional
in the treatment
of foliage.
By comparing Plate XXXVII. with Plates XXXII. and XXXIII. the differences
of style will be
readily perceived.  The general principles of the distribution of form are
the same, but there are a
few minor differences that it will be desirable to point out.
The surface of an ornament both in the Arabian and Moresque styles is only
slightly rounded,
and the enrichment of the surface is obtained by sinking lines on this surface;
or where the surface
was left plain, the additional pattern upon pattern was obtained by painting.
The Turkish ornament, on the contrary, presents a carved surface, and such
ornaments as we
find painted in the Arabian MSS., Plate XXXIV., in black lines on the gold
flowers, are here
carved on the surface, the effect being not nearly so broad as that produced
by the sunk feathering of
the Arabian and Moresque.
Another peculiarity, and one which at once distinguishes a piece of Tlirkish
ornament from
Arabian, is the great abuse which was made of the re-entering curve AA.
This is very prominent in the Arabian, but more especially in the Persian
styles.  See Plate
XLVI.
With the Moors it is no longer a feature, and appears only exceptionally.
This peculiarity was adopted in the Elizabethan ornament, which, through
the Renaissance ot
France and Italy, was derived from the East, in imitation of the damascened
work which was at that
period so common.
It will be seen on reference to Plate XXXVI. that this swell always occurs
on the inside of the
spiral curve of the main stem; with Elizabethan ornament the swell often
occurs indifferently on the
inside and on the outside.
It is very difficult, nay, almost impossible, thoroughly to explain by words
differences in style ot
ornament having such a strong family resemblance as the Persian, Arabian,
and Turkish; yet the eye
readily detects them, much in the same way as a Roman statue is distinguished
from a Greek. The
general principles remaining the same in the Persian, the Arabian, and the
Turkish styles of ornament,
there will be found a peculiarity in the proportions of the masses, more
or less grace in the flowing
of the curves, a fondness for particular directions in the leading lines,
and a peculiar mode of inter-
weaving forms, the general form of the conventional leafage ever remaining
the same. The relative
degree of fancy, delicacy, or coarseness, with which these are drawn, will
at once distinguish them as
the works of the refined and spiritual Persian, the not less refined but
reflective Arabian, or the unima-
ginative Turk.
Plate XXXVIII. is a portion of the decoration of the dome of the tomb of
Soliman I. at Constan-
tinople; it is the most perfect specimen of Turkish ornament with which we
are acquainted, and nearly
approaches the Arabian.  One great feature of Turkish ornament is the predominance
of green and
black; and, in fact, in the modern decoration of Cairo the same thing is
observed. Green is much
more prominent than in ancient examples where blue is chiefly used.
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