248 
The Carden Magazine, January, 1921 
were employed on the finer decorative work. The core of a 
building was erected of cheap materials by slaves and the orna- 
ment applied externally like veneer. Greek delicacy and re- 
straint gave way to freedom and flexibility, while the invention 
of the arch led to changes in the roof which foreshadowed the 
pointed architecture of later times. Attention was paid to secu- 
lar buildings as well as to temples, and classic ideas were dis- 
tributed to all the world by the force of the Roman arms. 
Great advances were made in carved ornament, using the older 
Greek motives but amplifying them and adding 
a few new elements. The anthemion, rosette, 
and acanthus-leaf persisted in many forms, while 
the use of garlands or festoons of flowers and 
fruits was greatly extended, and the rinceau was 
developed into the most 
decorative and prolific of 
all patterns except those 
derived from the Lotus. 
Early Christian decora- 
tive art, taken in the 
broad sense, would include 
the work of all early Chris- 
tians, whether in Italy, 
Asia Minor, Syria, Thrace, 
or in that portion of Egypt 
inhabited by the Copts. 
The term is generally ap- 
plied, however, to the art 
of Christians in Rome 
during the period extend- 
ing from Emperor Con- 
stantine to Gregory 1 , or 
from 300 to 604 A. D. These people were at first poor and 
persecuted, and their early art was found in the underground 
passages of the catacombs, where they met in secret for wor- 
ship and burial ceremonies. It was not a new art in any 
sense. There were no inventions, either in form or ornament, 
but the symbols of pagan art were given new meanings and 
adapted to Christian purposes. The Vine was no longer de- 
dicated to Bacchus, but to Jesus; the Cypress tree came to 
mean the death of the sinful nature, or baptism; the wreath 
and festoon were transferred from pagan sacrifices to Christian 
burial; winged genii became angels; and Hercules became the 
Good Shepherd with a lamb on his shoulder. 
After the Roman Empire was pronounced Christian, in 312 
A.D., religious art predominated, mainly in the form of the bap- 
tistery and the basilican church. The architecture of religious 
edifices received little attention, but the decorations were con- 
sidered very important. There were splendid pavements for 
the floors; handsome mosaic patterns for the walls; and all the 
fixed furniture, including the altar, pulpit, choir seats, etc., was 
ornately carved or otherwise embellished. Fig- 
ures were not allowed for a long time, however, 
owing to their resemblance to pagan idols. 
Byzantine decorative art, with its centre at 
Constantinople, was similar to that of the early 
Christians at Rome in its 
purpose and symbolism, 
but decidedly more pro- 
gressive and productive 
of much richer results. 
Byzantium had been a 
Greek colony and was full 
of the Greek spirit, with 
deep regard for form and 
structure, to which was 
added an oriental love 
of brilliant coloring and 
surface ornament. The 
dome, also, was an ori- 
ental feature which con- 
trasted strongly with the 
vaulted arches of the 
Romanesque style. Hagia 
Sophia at Constantinople, erected in 500 A.D., and St. Marks 
at Venice, built in 1100 A. D., are wonderful examples of 
Byzantine architecture. They consist of central cores of 
coarse material overlaid with marble veneer and decorative 
mosaics of the richest description. Boxes for incense, enamels, 
vessels of silver and gold, textile ornaments, illuminated 
manuscripts, and other objects are also of the finest quality 
and highly decorated with designs in which the fret, anthe- 
mion, vine, acanthus, and rinceau patterns appear with great 
regularity. 
Metropolitan Museum of Art 
GENUINE EXPRESSIONS OF A LESS FINISHED ART THAN THE GREEK 
These pieces of Cretan pottery, their patterns inspired by such widely diverse forms of life as 
the Daisy and the sea shell have nevertheless a certain crude dignity and charm of their own 
