STUDIES IN PATTERNS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2779, 19 June 1907, Page 13

STUDIES IN PATTERNS.

Perhaps no element is a more ofter recurring feature in patterns than the circle.

In the earliest ages it 6tood for the Moon god, a copy of the Moon when she beamed •with full face upon the Earth, and when the savage drew thi6 sign on his veesels and his weapons it was with the idea of putting them under tho protection of this god. The repetition of the sign, forming what we now call a pattern, waa an intensification of his desire. So patterns composed of circles are some of the earliest of which wo have knowledge. Then as Moon worship died out, and men began to comprehend a God invisible, eternal, the circle, as that which has neither beginning nor end and is wholly complete within its-elf, etood as a fitting symbol for the Supreme God. With thr» ad"ent of tho Christian doctrine of tho Trinity three interlacing Circles were

the emblem of the ij<iai.< ad. And this brings us to the familiar Tiefoil pattern, always striking for its beauty. This is

A More Elaborate Trefoil rattern. obviously a derivation from throe interlacing circles and bears the same significance, though its meaning is rarely considered when it is used as a decorative device. The Quatrefoil has no connection tvith the Tre-

foil, though at first sight a connection might almcx-t have been anticipaied. It is an independent pattern element, and had apparently no existence pr.or to Christian art. It arose out of a symbolic representation of the four Evangelists. A cro<e with a small circle at each extremity v,zf the sign used for the four writers of the Gosrel story. Sometimes a small circle was placed at the centre of the cross to include Christ.

Emb'cnis of the Gospel, Ckriet, md the Cmcinxion

But gradual'? the arms of the cross disappeared to c^ke way for the mere compact sign of the Quatrefoil. Go© would

hardly dream, perhaps, that the common Spot pattern could tell any story, yet it, too, can reT#*l cne to the curious questioner Though again and again the sales-

man brings it up as the " latest thing " on print or eilk, y«t really its age is beyond all knowledge." *The Spots were originally

the representations of the heads of nails, and it rs a pattern denoting good luck, for tho driving iifr of »ails was popularly regarded by the ancients as an omen of good fortune. (To be continued.)