Palmette

Palmette also called anthemion (from the Greek ανθεμιον, a flower) is an art style based on the fan-shaped leaves of a palm tree. It was largely employed in the Greek/Roman era to decorate:

1. the fronts of ante-fixae,
2. the upper portion of the stele or vertical tombstones,
3. the necking of the Ionic columns of the Erechtheum and its continuation as a decorative frieze on the walls of the same, and
4. the cymatium of a cornice.

Though generally known as the honeysuckle ornament, from its resemblance to that flower, its origin will be found in the flower of the acanthus plant.

Description

As an ornamental motif found in architecture, sculpture, textile design and a wide range of other media, the palmette and anthemion take many and varied forms. Typically, the upper part of the motif consists of five or more leaves or petals fanning rhythmically upwards from a single triangular or lozenge-shaped source at the base. In some instances fruits resembling palm fruits hang down on either side above the base and below the lowest leaves. The lower part consists of a symmetrical pair of elegant 'S' scrolls or volutes curling out sideways and downwards from the base of the leaves. The upper part recalls the thrusting growth of leaves and flowers, while the volutes of the lower part seem to suggest both contributing fertile energies and resulting fruits. It is often present on the necking of the capital of ionic order columns; however in column capitals of the Corinthian order it takes the shape of a 'fleuron' or flower resting against the abacus (top-most slab) of the capital and rising out from a pair of volutes which, in some versions, give rise to the elaborate volutes and acanthus ornament of the capital. In the repeated border design commonly referred to as anthemion the palm fronds more closely resemble petals of the honeysuckle flower, as if designed to attract fertilizing insects. Some compare the shape to a hand with outstretched fingers - explaining the commonality and derivation of the 'palm' of the hand. In some forms of the motif the volutes or scrolls resemble a pair of eyes, like those on the harmika of the Tibetan or Nepalese stupa and the eyes and sun-disk atop Egyptian stelae. In some variants the features of a more fully-developed face become discernable in the palmette itself, while in certain architectural uses, usually at the head of pilasters or herms, the fan of palm-fronds transforms into a female face and the volutes into breasts. Common to all these forms is the pair of volutes at the base of the fan - constituting the defining characteristics of the palmette.

Evolution

It is thought that the palmette originated in ancient Egypt, and was originally based on features of various flowers, including the papyrus, the lotus and the lily, before it became associated with the palm tree. From earliest times there was a strong association with the sun. Among the oldest forms of the palmette in ancient Egypt was a daisy-like lotus flower emerging from a 'V' of foliage resembling the setting or rising sun, a more fully-developed palmette similar to the forms found in Ancient Greece, a version consisting of 3 lotus blooms on tall stems (the middle one higher than the other two), a lotus bloom between two upright buds, and a lotus bloom with a drooping bud on either side. Rising and setting sun and opening and closing lotus are linked by the Osiris legend to day and night, life and death and the nightly ordeal of the setting sun to pass through the underworld and be born anew each morning. Most early Egyptian forms of the motif appear later in Mesopotamia, Assyria and Ancient Persia, including the daisy-wheel-style lotus and bud border. In the form of the palmette that appears most frequently on Greek pottery, often interspersed with scenes of heroic deeds, the same motif is bound within a leaf-shaped or lotus-bud shaped outer line. The outer line can be seen to have evolved from an alternating frieze of stylized lotus and palmette. This anticipates the form it often took - from renaissance sculpture through to baroque fountains - of the inside of a half scallop shell, in which the palm fronds have become the fan of the shell and the scrolls remain at the convergence of the fan. Here the shape was associated with Venus or Neptune and was typically flanked by a pair of dolphins or became a vehicle drawn by sea-horses. Later, this circular or oval outer line became a motif in itself, forming an open C-shape with the two in-growing scrolls at its tips. Much baroque and rococo furniture, stucco ornament or wrought-iron work of gates and balconies is made up of ever-varying combinations these C-scrolls, either on their own, back to back, or in support of full palmettes.

Variants and related motifs

The palmette is related to a range of motifs in other cultures and periods. In ancient Egypt palmette motifs existed both as a form of flower and as a stylized tree, often referred to as a tree of life. Other examples from ancient Egypt are the alternating lotus flower and bud border designs, the winged disk with its pair of uraeus serpents, the eye of Horus and curve-topped commemorative stele. In later Assyrian versions of the tree of life, the feathered falcon wings of the Egyptian winged disk have become associated with the fronds of the palm tree. Similar lotus flower and bud borders, closely associated with palmettes and rosettes, also appeared in Mesapotamia. There appears to be an equivalence between the horns of horned creatures, the wings of winged beings including angels, griffins and sphynxes and both the fan and the volutes of the palmette; there is also an underlying 'V' shape in each of these forms that parallels the association of the palm itself with victory, energy and optimism. Similar forms are found in the hovering winged disc and sacred trees of Mesapotamia, the caduceus wand of Hermes, the ubiquitous scrolled scallop shells in the canopy of the renaissance sculptural niche, originating in Greek and Roman sarcophagi, echoed above theatrical proscenium arches and on the doors, windows, wrought iron gates and balconies of palaces and grand houses; the shell-like fanlight over the door in Georgian and similar urban architecture, the 'gul' and 'boteh' motifs of Central Asian carpets and textiles, the trident of Neptune/Poseidon, both the trident and lingam of Shiva, the 'bai sema' lotus-petal-shaped boundary markers of the Thai inner-temple, Vishnu's mount, Garuda, the vajra thunderbolt, diamond mace or enlightenment jewel-in-the-lotus of Tibet and South-East Asia, the symmetrically scrolled cloud and bat motifs and the similarly scrolled ruyi or ju-i scepter and lingzhi or fungus of longevity of the Chinese tradition. Even everyday garden gates throughout Western suburbia are topped with almost identical pairs of scrolls seemingly derived from the motifs associated with the palmette including the related winged sun-disk and sun disk flanked with a pair of eyes, both with their prominent uraeus serpents. Churchyard gates, tombs and gravestones bear the motif over and again in different forms.

Issues of interpretation

Ornamental motifs are often treated as though they were pleasing elements of decoration but devoid of meaning, or their meaning is considered to be lost and indecipherable. It is assumed that particular motifs were chosen by craftsmen because they or their patrons were fond of them. This is reinforced by the absence of commentary on meaning or rationale for choice of motifs from the myriad potters, draftsmen, sculptors and metalworkers who have worked with the motif. However the palmette is a good example of a motif which, even if its meaning is not articulated by the craftsmen themselves, lends itself to meaningful interpretation in view of the consistency of the functional context and positioning in which it recurs throughout its long history and its continuing use by artists.

The possibility also exists that the meaning of ornamental motifs became, or had always been, esoteric knowledge for a select group and was not openly passed on. One reason for this would be the importance to any form of artistic medium of individual observers arriving at a personal revelation of meaning through direct contemplation and experience. The idea of the perpetuation of traditions of esoteric knowledge by close-knit groups seems to be reinforced by the striking use of the palmette and related motifs at key moments in Hollywood films (Titanic, Star Wars, Chronicles of Narnia) without the audience receiving any explanation or otherwise being made explicitly aware of the reasons or significance.

Deducing meaning from context and placement

Both in ancient and in modern usage, in East and West, the grouping of motifs we have discussed has a sacred, auspicious and often magical or miracle-working connotation, further incorporating a sublimation of sexual union and fertility. Associated both with flowers and with palm trees, the palmette brings together the fertility symbolism of both. Both the calyx of the flower and the crown of the palm tree are the centre of reproductive activity and the source of new growth, and both are graphically associated with human sexuality. The method of artificial fertilization of pistillate (female) flowers of the palm tree using the staminate (male) flowers seems to have been known to the ancient world, as depicted in Assyrian reliefs apparently showing the sprinkling of pollen on a stylized palm-tree with palmette-flowers.

The most common placement of the palmette or anthemion in the ancient world was its architectural use in a repeating pattern as a border, frame or frieze. In this 'ornamental' role it supports and points to the 'main' image (deity, hero, martyr, saint...) housed in the 'naos' or 'cella' of the temple or mounted on the wall panel that it frames. Like the images themselves, the palmette in this sense 'merely' points to where the truth can be found - not through the image itself but by the process of personal revelatory experience that the image helps to initiate. Border motifs, moldings and patterns thus convey humility and self sacrifice: asking the viewer to look beyond them to more important truths and realities. However it should be remembered that in capturing the idea of humility such motifs often themselves directly convey the essential message of the main image: the humility and sacrifice without which the higher truths represented by the image itself cannot be attained, such as the need for transcendence of the mortal self.

In this context the palmette or anthemion remained the principal ornament in the frames of fine paintings, whose essence is often the capture of moments of revelation, inspiration, annunciation, nativity or spiritual rebirth; in the proscenium arch of theatres, as the setting for the moving images of the drama, and over mirrors, which also reveal hidden truths and seem to offer passage to other worlds and their heightened levels of experience and awareness.

It is found in a protective, guardian role at boundary passages such as bridges and gates, over other openings such as doors, windows and balconies, and as the standard ornament for door handles and keyhole masks. There is a similar association between the palmette and the Athenian phallic boundary markers, named herms, from which the messenger-god Hermes is said to have evolved, and with the Caduceus, the wand of Hermes, the tip of which echoes the Egyptian winged disk, while the interlaced serpents recall the uraeus, and with the temple boundary markers of South and South East Asia. The ideas of frames, borders, boundary markers (and messengers) are linked. They all act as pointers - but at the same time as guardians and filters - to a womb-like inner sanctum where fertility and new life are generated and to which only selected, suitable aspirants may be admitted.

In other uses the palmette is not always positioned self-effacingly as if for ornament only, but is also typically given prominence at the apex or acroterion of roofs and pediments and over ritual spaces such as niches, altar pieces and fireplaces, where it appears to designate the place as sacred, or to confer a blessing. In this role the palmette is a central feature of monumental tombs and war memorials that are 'sacred to the memory of ...' - denoting remembrance in perpetuity of those who are now seen to have given their lives for others, and echoing its original function of assisting the passage of the soul to immortality.

It is all-pervasive at the dinner table - a shared ritual transformation of the material to the spiritual - being the basis of the traditional designs of dining chair backs, silverware, dinner plates, serving bowls, ceiling roses, lampshades and other items which still find echoes in many contemporary versions.

In clear allusion to their association with love, union and fertility, palmettes feature on bedspreads, and on both wooden and iron bedsteads.

In its association with fortune and wish-fulfilment it still plays an important part in the fantasia of fairground attractions, especially merry-go-rounds and until recently was found prominently on one-armed bandit gambling machines, juke boxes, home radio sets and cash registers.

Common themes

The placement of the palmette motif in ancient Egypt was on tomb walls, on funereal monuments, on death masks, mummy canopies and on door lintels. It is associated both with death and with life, and seems to have been thought of as offering passage or mediation between the two worlds, as between heaven and earth. The oldest appearance of the related group of motifs is at the crown of Egyptian funerary stele depicting sacrificial offerings intended to earn passage to eternal life. Its use in religious architecture from ancient Greece to the baroque remained faithful to this original association. The common themes are the development of structured responses to chaos and suffering through the discernment of order and beauty in the natural world - combined with its emulation through the creation of ever new variations - and the attainment of self-transcendent grace through dedication, sacrifice and love. In the continuing fascination with the palmette through the millenia we may sense that painful experience and acquired wisdom of past generations has been satisfyingly distilled and organized into the seductive discipline of a beautiful image - forming a kind of organic replication template that is able to guide future growth and development.

References

• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)

• Additions to this article contributed by A.Mayne acknowledge information and ideas drawn from the following publications in addition to own research and observations:
• 1. Jessica Rawson, Chinese Ornament: The Lotus and the Dragon; ISBN: 0714114316, British Museum Pubns Ltd, 1984
• 2. Alois RIEGL, Stilfragen. Grundlegungen zu einer Geschichte der Ornamentik. Berlin 1893