If Racinet’s Polychromatic Ornament (1869–1873) was the French answer to The Grammar of Ornament (1856) by Owen Jones, then Heinrich Dolmetsch’s Der Ornamentenschatz (1887) is the German response to both, an equally lavish collection of colour plates showing ornamental decoration through the ages. Dolmetsch’s book follows the same chronological format as its counterparts, the main difference being an emphasis on objects as much as patterns or small portions of design. And being a German book, there’s rather more attention given to the German Renaissance than you might find elsewhere.
Previously on { feuilleton }
• Racinet’s Polychromatic Ornament
• Christopher Dresser’s Studies in Design
• Christopher Dresser’s Art of Decorative Design
• Kunstgewerbliche Schmuckformen für die Fläche
• Album de la décoration
• The Grammar of Ornament revisited
• Dekorative Vorbilder
• Combinaisons Ornementales
• Charles J Strong’s Book of Designs
• Styles of Ornament
• The Grammar of Ornament by Owen Jones