Persian Decorative Art in The Grammar of Ornament

Today we present Persian decorative art styles found in Owen Jones’s classic work The Grammar of Ornament, published by Bernard Quaritch in London in 1868. The book features 120 chromolithographic plates of design examples from across time, geography, and culture. In the preface, Jones describes 37 propositions that are “general principles in the arrangement of form and colour, in architecture and the decorative arts, which are advocated throughout this work.” The plates we are highlighting today showcase decorative art patterns found in illuminated manuscripts, tile work, and architecture.

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–Sarah, Special Collections Graduate Intern