Ornament is back in fashion. But have you ever thought that by wearing a beautiful thing with a geometric, floral or anthropomorphic repeating pattern, you want to tell something to others?
What is an ornament
Even before the advent of writing, people knew how to encode information. They did it with the help of an ornament.
What is an ornament?
The word comes from the Latin ornemantum - "decoration". An ornament is a pattern based on the alternation of its constituent elements.
This pattern was applied to a variety of objects. It could be:
- household utensils such as crockery;
- weapons;
- clothes;
- textile products (towels, blankets, etc.);
- architectural structures (inside and outside).
Primitive peoples applied an ornament to their body (the prototype of modern tattooing).
But the purpose of the ornament was not at all to decorate objects. He was assigned the role of a protector from evil forces and spirits.
Classification
There are four main types of ornament:
- Geometric, consisting of figures - circles, spirals, dots, lines, rhombuses, etc. It is the most ancient type of ornament and originated in the Paleolithic era.
- Vegetable, which consists of repeating images of branches, leaves, fruits or whole plants.
- In the zoomorphic, images of animals (mythical or real) alternate.
- The anthropomorphic ornament consists of shapes depicting humans or demi-humans.
Sometimes there is also a teratological ornament, that is, the image of cultural objects, celestial bodies. But this article is devoted exclusively to anthropomorphic ornament. So, let's start describing it.
Anthropomorphic ornament: features
We have already found out that this type of ornament implies the image of a person or human-like creatures. However, its meaning may vary depending on what exactly and where it is depicted.
Anthropomorphic ornament is divided into 2 types:
- archaic, reflecting ancient mythological ideas;
- household, or genre.
The Mystery of the Shigir Idol
The brightest and most mysterious example of an anthropomorphic archaic ornament is the pattern on the body of the Shigir idol.
This oldest wooden idol on Earth still hides many mysteries that scientists are trying to unravel.
He's pretty well preserved for his age (about 9,000 years old). Peat acted as a "preservative". Deity retrievedfrom a peat bog in 1890, when gold miners instead of the desired metal found ancient bronze and bone objects in the bog and reported this to archaeologists.
Today the idol is stored in the Sverdlovsk Museum of Local Lore.
It was made in the Mesolithic era, approximately 8680 years ago, from a single larch trunk.
Versions of origin
The torso of the deity is covered with carved geometric patterns on all sides. In addition to it, there are also images of faces. They also represent something like an anthropomorphic ornament: seven figures are located along the entire length of the front of the body.
Designing an ornament always symbolizes something, so scientists began to unravel the meaning of the geometric and anthropomorphic ornament on the body of an idol.
According to one version, it does not depict an anthropomorphic ornament - it is a lunar calendar. Seven faces - seven days of the phase of the moon, which formed the basis of the ancient Sumerian calendar. And the deity is the personification of the moon.
According to another version, the Shigir idol is the goddess of death Mara. The word "Mara" was found in several places of the deity at once, and the inscription "god of the afterlife" was read on the left cheek.
Ornament on earthenware
A vivid example of a household ornament is a pattern on dishes.
As a result of numerous studies of anthropomorphic ornaments on clay dishes, scientists have found that, for example, a clay vesseldivided primitive farmers and pastoralists into three parts, or zones, vertically:
- sky;
- earth;
- underwater world.
The ornament was most often located in two tiers, which symbolized the relationship of "our", the human world, either with the sky or with the dungeon.
Many early vessels contain images of "processions" of people, animals or anthropomorphic creatures in the same direction.
For example, the inside of the flat dishes of the masters of the Samarra culture is occupied by images of anthropomorphic creatures, birds, deer, fish and scorpions, surrounded by a stream of water.
As you can see from the photo, the anthropomorphic ornament on the dishes with images of "processions" can display ritual dances and round dances.
Archaic anthropomorphic ornament of the Slavs
The plots of the archaic type with anthropomorphic characters are so named because they retained the ideas of the distant past, which were embodied in a conditional form, without a clear image.
The archaic anthropomorphic ornament of the Slavs was presented in the following compositions:
- Pavas. Plots with anthropomorphic creatures and peahens were often found in embroidery in various compositions. A similar anthropomorphic ornament in the strip was often present on towels and towels.
- Snakes and frogs. Serpentine ornaments were often intertwined with an anthropomorphic figure and often with swans on Solvychegoda headdresses.
- On the embroidery of the inhabitants of the North, inin particular, Kargopol, there were images of mermaids. They looked like the local fishermen imagined them to be.
- Birds with the face of the Virgin Sirina - decorated the doors of lockers, chests, spinning wheels, hats, towels. The heroines of ancient legends smoothly migrated from oral folk art. And popular prints of the 17th-18th centuries served as a clear example.
- In archaic stories there are also images of people who look like idols. Sometimes they are framed by birds, rosettes or diamonds, or other anthropomorphic creatures are included in the composition.
- Female figure with riders - a common composition in the Russian north. Such images are more like a drawing than an ornament. A woman often holds horses on it, and the riders seem to bow before the power of a deity. The head of both the woman and the horsemen is depicted in the form of a rhombus, and they can only be recognized by their clothes and hair, which were given special attention, they were depicted in the form of rays.
- In the Tver, Novgorod, Pskov, Petersburg, Olonets provinces of frequencies, there are motifs of embroidery with a woman or a tree (and they are interchangeable).
- A single female figure in a bell-shaped robe with a bird in her hands is found in embroideries in many regions - from Pskov to Arkhangelsk province. There are also images with a mirror reflection or from several shapes.
- Male figures in the ornament are most often riders, however, they not only serve as a frame for the central female figure, but can also be presented separately.
- Besides horsemen there are alsomale figures without horses. For example, in works from the Olonets and Petersburg provinces there are images of male figures with twigs in their hands and in headdresses in the form of a conical cap and a low hat.
Household ornament on products of the Slavs
In everyday subjects, anthropomorphic ornament began to be used in the 17-18 centuries. Such motifs adorned valances and towels, sometimes clothes and hats. What stories were presented on them:
- Images of everyday life of different social strata of the population.
- Court life - a festivity or masquerade ball with a detailed image of the characters (violinists, flutists, dancing couples, guests in masks), as well as carriages and sailing ships in which the guests arrived. Such images were typical for St. Petersburg.
- Plots related to the estate life developed against the backdrop of park landscapes and beautiful architectural structures.
- One of the most popular subjects is a wedding. Such an ornament was decorated with images of two figures, male and female, holding hands, as well as a wedding cortege with a building in the center, where the young are "married". Such images were found on valances intended for decorating the bed of the newlyweds.
- Everyday scenes on towels varied, but the central figure was always a man: a young lady, a soldier, a lady with an umbrella, etc. A favorite motif was a round dance or a dance.
Ornament depicting people nothas as many secret meanings as, for example, geometric. But that doesn't make it any less interesting. We hope you are convinced of this.
