PLANTS AS AN INSPIRATION 
IN THE ART 
OF EARLY PEOPLES 
WILLIAM ALPHONSO MURRILL 
Supervisor of Public Instruction, New York Botanical Garden 
Many Motives of Grace and Beauty Developed from Floral Forms Found Since the 
Earliest Times in Decorative Art Where They Continue to Feature Importantly 
A GREEK VASE 
Substantial and re- 
freshingly simple in 
outline and treat- 
ment, the band of 
laurel leaves its chief 
decoration 
(Metropolitan Museum 
of Art) 
CAPITAL AND 
FRIEZE 
From the Temple of 
Castor at Rome, 
showing the egg-and- 
dart, bead-and reel, 
rosette, anthemion, 
acanthus-leaf, and 
other designs used in 
Roman architecture 
(Metropolitan Museum 
of Art) l 
HEN flowers and foliage first came to be used in art, 
VY J A it was more for their magical influence than for their 
' heauty. Like the totem, heraldic animal, and mascot, 
the plant was supposed to give protection and power. 
The Lotus of ancient Egypt, product of the life-giving Nile, was 
held sacred as symbolic of the creation and resurrection; hence 
its wide use in a country where temple and sepulchral art ranked 
first. 
The Cretans had developed a fine decorative art as early as 
2,000 B.C., which dominated that of Mycenae, Tiryns, Troy, 
and other cities of prehistoric Greece and Asia Minor. The 
celebrated Minoan vases were beautifully ornamented with 
patterns of Daisies, Lilies, Crocuses, and Seaweeds, as well as 
with Lotus and Papyrus designs obtained from Egypt. Then 
came the invasion from southern Greece in 1400 B.C., which 
overwhelmed the Cretans and would have destroyed Egyptian 
culture also but for the Mediterranean Sea. Cyprus figured 
in art history 
mainly as a 
meeting-place 
where ideas 
from Egyptj 
G reece, and 
elsewhere 
were brought 
together and 
mingled;while 
P hoenician 
traders dis- 
seminated art 
culture 
throughout the entire Mediterranean region. Greek decora- 
tive art is preserved chiefly in vase-painting and architecture. 
Thousands of terra-cotta vases, made between 700 B.C. and 
1 A.D., have been dug up about Grecian tombs — jars for 
holding wine, water, and perfumes, and for votive and funeral 
uses; cups of various shapes for drinking purposes; and hand- 
some vases made for gifts and prizes and signed by the decora- 
tors as works of real art. The shapes were made from clay on 
the potter’s wheel and the decorations drawn freehand with 
black and red paint. 
Although Egyptian architecture is considered the grandest in 
the world, hardly a trace of it exists in the structures of the pres- 
ent day; while Greek architecture — the most beautiful — is the 
foundation of all modern building. Greek builders were gifted 
with an idea of structure and proportion; they drew from the 
best Egyptian, Assyrian, and YEgean models; they were inspired 
by progressive national ideals and the beautiful in nature; and 
they produced a classic temple style so perfect and refined that 
it became a standard for all time. The Renaissance was a re- 
vival of Greek ideas after a long period of Gothic domination; 
while the discovery of Herculaneum and Pompeii in the eigh- 
teenth century was a further powerful stimulus toward the gen- 
eral recognition of classic ideals. 
Among the motives used by the Greeks, both on vases and 
buildings, were the meander or fret, wave, spiral, S-curve or 
line-of-beauty, rosette, guilloche or braid pattern, Lotus, Laurel, 
Vine, Acanthus-leaf, and figures of animals and human beings. 
Many of the so-called inventive or geometric patterns originated 
in the primitive manufacture by hand of mats, baskets, gar- 
ments, etc., where squares, circles, and knots were formed in 
regular succession. The meander and spiral first appeared 
246 
