KERAMIC STUDIO 
HISTORIC ORNAMENT— ARABIAN 
HE Arabians created an original decorative style which furnished 
primitive types to other Orientals. There is a strong resem- 
blance between the Arabian, Moorish, Turkish, Persian, and 
Indo Persian decorative art, but each has its distinctive pecu- 
liarity by which the pure forms of each can be distinguished 
from those of the other. With the Moors the distinguishing 
colors are dark blue, red and gold; their designs are almost 
entirely made up of geometric patterns, composed of interlacing straight lines 
and angles, after the style of the " Star of Solomon "or the center of the 
Arabian rug pattern. Persian art differs from the Arabian in the intro- 
duction of flowers and living objects into designs. Turkish art is a mixture 
of Arabian and Persian, using the shaded color effects which the Arabians 
borrowed from the Byzantines, and the forms more akin to the Persians. 
The Indo-Persian elaborates the Persian motives still farther, their back- 
grounds being completely covered with delicate tracery. 
The original architecture of Arabia wa"s Roman or Byzantine. The 
Mahommedans gradually threw off that influence, formed and perfected a 
style peculiarly their own, They still retain the peculiar shaded color effects 
found in Byzantine and Mediaeval art, using it sparingly, however. The 
Arabs are not as perfect as the Moors in distribution of masses or in orna- 
menting the surface of ornaments. Their guiding instinct is the same, but 
their execution inferior. There is more monotony but less contrast, their 
designs being almost entirely on one plane, while the Moor uses several 
planes, giving the effect of breadth and restful spaces, even while ornament- 
ing still more elaborately. The Arabic constructive feeling shows more 
grandeur, the Moorish more refinement. The Greek influence can be traced 
in several designs, especially in the use of two flower-like forms, one turned 
up, one down, but with the Arabs the flower forms part of the scroll. 
The use of flower-forms combined with lineal ornament shows the in- 
fluence of the Persian. There is a complete absence of living figures, repre- 
sentation of which was strictly forbidden by the Koran. Thus, in the primi- 
tive Arabian style, the flower is not to be found, but other forms resembling 
and directly inspired by nature. Thus conceived and employed, the orna- 
mental forms of the Arabs, being still more conventional than the Greek, are 
a purely decorative conception and are above and beyond nature. Symbol- 
ism, also being forbidden by the Koran, any sentiment to be found in Arabian 
art is directly expressed in verses 
from the Koran, the actual words 
and letters being introduced as 
part of the ornament. This can 
be seen in the head and end pieces 
to this article. Running inscrip. 
tions frequently form part of their 
^5 «#XJ* f*Hi^ ^^?W»> decorations and produce the hap- 
piest effects. This style is so 
strongly impressed with the 
Arabic genius that the term 
Arabesque still applies to the 
whole style of ornament which 
other nations have appropriated, 
