DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.32867#0351
ORNAMENT
3i9
pilasters, or pilaster panels, richly ornamented with rinceaux or arabesques in natural-
istic patterns of grape-vine, or with a running acanthus with large lily-like flowers.
Consoles of unusually rich
acanthus design appear
above the doorways, and the
friezes are treated, like the
jambs, with foliate scrolls.
The variety of vegetable
subjects represented in these
friezes, panels, and arab-
esques includes, besides the
acanthus, the grape-vine,
and the pomegranate, a variety of unfamiliar vines with flowers and fruit. The
treatment is wonderfully naturalistic in detail, yet the arrangement is strictly conven-
tional, and Greek rather than Roman. The technique is flawless, despite the medium
in which they are executed.
The period of the early Antonine emperors was followed by another in which the
Greek influence is quite as strong in details, but in which the artists accommodated
their ornament more fittingly to the medium which they were obliged to employ. In
place of delicate patterns in 'high relief, we find simpler carvings, and the smaller
moldings, though perfectly designed and carefully finished, are generally kept quite
plain. Broader surfaces, like the heavier ovolos, are adorned with a delicate bay leaf,
or are carved to represent
the trunk of the palm-tree.
Friezes are treated with per-
pendicular grooves — a Per-
sian form of ornament com-
monly met with in Roman
work. The egg and dart is employed sparingly, and almost always in connection
with one of the above designs as an intermediate or finishing feature.
Although the buildings erected in the Hauran toward the end of the Roman period
are somewhat debased so far as the broader elements of design are concerned, the
moldings, wherever they are carved at all, are treated with great delicacy and high
finish.
The architecture of the Christian period, inasmuch as it lacks moldings, lacks also
the carving which would have been applied to them. The carving of this period is
limited to ornamental and symbolic disks, not unlike those of Northern Syria, though
they are much rarer and generally larger and of simpler design. An example in Kanawat
shows a broad surface .72 m. in diameter, encircled by a heavy cable molding, and
containing a simple cross with the barest suggestion of a P at its head. The two
Carved fragments m the temple at Mushennef.
3i9
pilasters, or pilaster panels, richly ornamented with rinceaux or arabesques in natural-
istic patterns of grape-vine, or with a running acanthus with large lily-like flowers.
Consoles of unusually rich
acanthus design appear
above the doorways, and the
friezes are treated, like the
jambs, with foliate scrolls.
The variety of vegetable
subjects represented in these
friezes, panels, and arab-
esques includes, besides the
acanthus, the grape-vine,
and the pomegranate, a variety of unfamiliar vines with flowers and fruit. The
treatment is wonderfully naturalistic in detail, yet the arrangement is strictly conven-
tional, and Greek rather than Roman. The technique is flawless, despite the medium
in which they are executed.
The period of the early Antonine emperors was followed by another in which the
Greek influence is quite as strong in details, but in which the artists accommodated
their ornament more fittingly to the medium which they were obliged to employ. In
place of delicate patterns in 'high relief, we find simpler carvings, and the smaller
moldings, though perfectly designed and carefully finished, are generally kept quite
plain. Broader surfaces, like the heavier ovolos, are adorned with a delicate bay leaf,
or are carved to represent
the trunk of the palm-tree.
Friezes are treated with per-
pendicular grooves — a Per-
sian form of ornament com-
monly met with in Roman
work. The egg and dart is employed sparingly, and almost always in connection
with one of the above designs as an intermediate or finishing feature.
Although the buildings erected in the Hauran toward the end of the Roman period
are somewhat debased so far as the broader elements of design are concerned, the
moldings, wherever they are carved at all, are treated with great delicacy and high
finish.
The architecture of the Christian period, inasmuch as it lacks moldings, lacks also
the carving which would have been applied to them. The carving of this period is
limited to ornamental and symbolic disks, not unlike those of Northern Syria, though
they are much rarer and generally larger and of simpler design. An example in Kanawat
shows a broad surface .72 m. in diameter, encircled by a heavy cable molding, and
containing a simple cross with the barest suggestion of a P at its head. The two
Carved fragments m the temple at Mushennef.