Origins of scrollwork by Barry Lee Hands and John B.

Barry Lee Hands

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John, here is a brief overview of the history of decorative arts relating to engraving as I have come to view it from my studies and travels.

Most of the "current" styles of scroll were developed by Greek artists.

You see modern looking Acanthus first around 400 BC, when the Art center of the western world was in Athens. By 200 BC they were producing work that we would think was related to "english scroll, victorian scroll or even american scroll" using our modern engraving terms.

To simplify my analysis, a lot of prechristian Greek Acanthus work is very round and flowing,with soft floppy leaves, like American scroll.The later Roman period Acanthus work is pointier like "Victorian" or MacKenzie scroll.

When Rome superceded Athens, most of the Art was still done by imported Greek labor, and by 200 AD they were producing work that is the basis of what we engravers call arabesque, or black leaf.

In this period these designs were adopted by the Arabs in Damascus, in the iron industry. After the conversion of the Arab peoples to the Muslim faith, images were banned in the Arab arts, and the style was even more solidified.

In europe, because of the influence of roman funerary art and the byzantine church, who both seeked to portray important persons as larger, and simplification of style to convey content to an increasingly illiterate audience (think dark ages) the ornamental styles evolved, or decayed with the rest of byzantine art.

The rediscovery of the classical styles and design in the renaissance led to baroque and Roccoco, which are little more than an elaboration on previous Greek styles, and added very little to the "structure"(think rules) of ornament.

The Golden mean and the ratio of Phi (1.618.....) was possibly first known by the Pythagorans, and was written about by Euclid in his Mathematical treatise "Elements" around 300 BC, and this certainly is a factor in the design of the scroll, at least to mathematicians, if not Artists.
Most likely the Golden mean was deduced from studying many geometric forms, possibly including scrolls.

A modern school of Geometry, developed by Mandelbrot, known as Fractal Geometry, explains how complex natural structures including landscapes, fishscales, our spinal column, and even complex ever repeating scrolls and leaves can be described by very simple equations.
Some believe nature uses Fractal Geometry to produce complex organisms from such simple codes as our DNA.

Perhaps our love of scroll work and classic design, may be closely related to Fractals, and our preference for the same timeless styles has a mathematical basis.
Something inside us that recognizes it regardless of time , place, or society
 

John B.

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Just my two-cents on the origin of scroll as decorative art.
I was taught that the scroll is a stylized depiction of the developing fiddlehead fern.
English scroll is a near perfect rendition of this fern in its early stage of growth.
Most other scroll shows it with the fronds (leaves) in the opening stages and the stem (backbone) beginning to unwind a little and become more open.
Scroll designs are found on the walls of pre-historic caves together with depictions of many types of animals.
These were done by the early hunter gatherer humans long before the introduction of agriculture. No one is exactly sure why these drawings were created.
Were they just decorative art for art’s sake?
That seems unlikely or they would have been in a more visible areas or habitations.
One plausible explanation is that they were totems, some type of early belief in their power to return the sources of food to these people.
From what we know animals were their main source of food and supplies.
Hides provided coverings and bindings and bones, teeth and claws for tools.
Wild berries, grains and fruits played a part in their diet and it is thought that the tender emerging baby fiddlehead fern was probably a very welcome source of fresh plant matter after a cold barren winter.
They probably watched the grazing animals to see which ferns and other things were safe to eat.

Other than the scroll many food items play a part in our traditional and historic artwork.
Acorns, nuts, fruit and berries, lotus, cattails and grains for instance are all valued foodstuff in some present and past cultures and are found in their and our present art.
Religion, totem, tribal or cult beliefs have played a part in the foundation and development of primitive art.
We have built, borrowed and expanded upon this early foundation and even have an example of this within our own engraving group.
Andrew Biggs has taken the ancient traditional Maori artwork of New Zealand and combined it with our modern Western world decoration. Evolution at work again.

Now, just don’t get me started on the origins of Celtic knot and ribbon work!!!!!
Pardon my ramblings, others have given their own beliefs on this subject.
It's all food (pun) for thought as no one will ever know the whole truth for sure.
 

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