Academic literature on the topic 'Heraldic decoration'

The tile compositions from decoration of Baturyn’s stoves are discussed. Based on the form, size and number of composite elements, the tile compositions are attributed to the tile panels and friezes. All finds had localized within two objects: hetman’s palace on the Citadel (two stoves) and a house of a Baturyn nobleman on the territory of Fortress (one stove). In the decorative construction of the polychrome stove in the Hetman’s palace, there was a tile panel, which included the large heraldic tile and a frame from the belt tiles. The frame is presented in two variants, and it’s probable to determine which of them covered the central panel. Besides that, in the central part of this polychrome stove, the tile frieze was located. Its central elements were represented by small round heraldic tiles. From the tile panel in the decoration of the second stove in Hetman’s house, only fragments of a monochrome green frame were found. The tiled panel from the stove of the dwelling on the territory of the fortress consisted of four square tiles which formed the heraldic image of the two-headed eagle. Graphic reconstructions of tile compositions can be used in future to reconstruct the decor of the stoves.

The use of heraldic decoration in medieval books has been somewhat neglected, only a few have been the subject of detailed studies and some of these are less than satisfactory. The Tickhill Psalter group had the advantage of having been the first to use the medieval rolls for comparanda, although the importance of the background decoration and line fillers as part of the overall pattern was not realised, accordingly a re-examination of all of these books is desirable. Unfortunately the book also gave renewed currency to the erroneous identification of the heraldry in the so-called Grey–FitzPayne hours at Cambridge which has long been regarded as closely dated to 1308 and hence a key manuscript for the chronology of the early fourteenth century books.

Surprisingly little attention has been paid by scholars of Henry VIII to the heraldic ceiling of the Chapel Royal in St James's Palace (fig. 1). Study of its decoration has fallen somewhere in between surveys of Tudor architecture and painting. In this article specific problems relating to the ceiling will be addressed: when it was made, the iconography, the reasons for the iconography, the visual source of the ceiling and how it was transmitted, and who made it. The ceiling warrants attention because its programme of Henrician heraldry is a key to the understanding of the political iconography of the Royal Supremacy. In addition, the ceiling's dependence on a contemporary Italian architectural treatise for its design is unusual for its time.

This article is sequel to the article published in the third issue of the Journal “Herald of the Institute of History, Archeology and Ethnography of the Dagestan Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences” in 2017 and it deals with the peculiarities of decorative finish of Muslim gravestones of the 14th -15th centuries in the village of Kubachi, partly in the village of Ashty, and now uninhabited villages of Dats’amazhe and Kalakoreish. This article, unlike the previous one, covers the issues related to the principles and methods used by stonecutters, calligraphers and ornamentalists in the decoration of the headstones. The analysis shows that bilateral symmetry was the guiding principle, which stonecutters used in decorative finish of the gravestones and of various architectural details as well. It is noted that the patterned and epigraphic compositions presented on the medieval headstones are based on the principle of free or relative symmetry, since there is no exact coincidence of the left and right sides of the figures. Along with the compositions with bilateral relative symmetries, there are the so-called mirror symmetries, in which the left and right sides are the same and coincide. These are mainly compositions of floral ornament. In medieval stone-cutting art of the village of Kubachi, mirror symmetry is most often found in heraldic compositions with images of paired, opposing animals, birds and fantastic creatures carved on various architectural details. The stonecutters adhered to the principle of relative (free) symmetry while making relief decorative Arabic inscriptions against the background of the floral ornament. The same inscription of the patterned and epigraphic band (border) in the upper part of many headstones is divided into two equal parts by a small ornamental medallion or braided ornament. But according to the figure (structure) these parts (right and left) are different. The stonecutters were to show the symmetry of the whole decoration of the headstones - the center and its sides. Among the architectural details there are also some decorative Arabic inscriptions executed in compliance with bilateral mirror symmetry. This symmetry is presented in the inscription (pseudo-inscription) on the archivolt of the window tympan of late 14th - early 15th centuries with the image of a horse rider, and on the archivolt of the window tympan with the image of a deer dropped down to the front legs. The author of the article presents the data on the relationship between Kubachi and the neighboring villages of Itsari, Shiri, Dats’amazhe in the development of the stone-cutting art and other types of decorative and applied art - wood carving, metalworking, carpet weaving, etc. in terms of similarity of compositional techniques and ornamental motives, performed in compliance with the principle of symmetry. The author analyzes similarities and differences in the decoration of the headstones at the medieval cemeteries of the village of Kubachi - “Bidaq huppe”, “Ts’itsila”, “Baqutsila”, “Dats’amazhe”, and also in the villages of Ashty and Kalakoreish. The modern ornamental art of Kubachi has inherited the rhythm, symmetry, balance, and proportionality peculiar to medieval ornamental compositions.

In many ancient churches the establishment of chantries and chantry chapels provides a fascinating appendix to the archaeology and history of the building. This paper is a short study of a chantry founded in St George's Chapel, Windsor not long before the Henrician and Edwardian reforms which were to undermine the theological principles upon which such establishments were erected. It refers to the life and the achievements of the founder and seeks to highlight, through the examination of architectural and heraldic evidence the difficulties of tracing the history of the building and decoration of the chantry chapel for which the Foundation Deed and the will of the founder are lost.

By V—IV century BC the images which iconography and context originate from Greek-Scythian art are becoming popular among people of Scythia. One of the most popular motive was sphinx. It was depicted on jewelry: earrings, neck rings, bracelets, appliqué-plates. The image of the mythical creature was among symbols of gods, life-giving forces of nature as well as signs of protection against dark forces. Some stories on the artifacts from Scythian kurgans are unique, presumably free interpretations of images from the creations of Greek masters. Often the image of sphinx was included to the heraldic compositions on golden plates which decorated headdresses. Most of the appliqués with relief patterns were forged in Greek workshops of Northern coast of Black Sea. However some artifacts tell about the existence of jewelry craft in Scythia itself. The images of sphinx with double and symmetrically opened torso raise extreme interest. This is the feature of decorative art of Northern coast of Black Sea. The majority of the artifacts which represent different variations of the image are found on the Scythian territory. It is possible that the idea of the image should be linked to the semantics of the sphinx — its dualistic nature. The iconography has the reflections of traditions which are usual for Scythian art: the stylization, representations of species specific of creatures, so-called transformations (one detail becomes set-up for another). The decorative elements with the image of sphinx with double and symmetrically opened torso were also symbols of fertility in Scythian costume.

This article presents two printed epithalamia from the 17th c. related to marriages contracted in the Pacas family. Each of them was adorned with a graphic decoration conforming with the allegoric meaning of the Gozdawa coat-of-arms. This determined not only individual virtues but also, together with the relevant quotations and symbols, became a prognostic of a satisfactory marital life. It also demonstrated the connections of the Pacas family, which were crucial in terms of strengthening the position of both the family and its individuals against public and family issues.

The article studies the Alan-Abkhazian cultural contacts by analyzing architectural decorations of these peoples. Actuality of the study is determined by considering the architectural decorations as a cultural marker of Abkhazians and Alans in the period of the 8th—10th centuries. This point of consideration is primarily important for studying the material culture of the ethnic groups living in close proximity to the route of the Silk Road, which is regarded as a powerful catalyst for cultural exchange between the numerous tribes and peoples each having its own unique and diverse artistic skills. The article compares a number of artifacts: some fragments of the altar barrier from Anacopia (Republic of Abkhazia, New Athos) and some fragments of the altar barrier from the Ilyichevskoe Hillfort (Krasnodar Region, Otradnensky District). This allows the author to state that there existed common ornamental schemes in the monumental art of those peoples in the period preceding the 13th—14th centuries. The article analyzes the patterns and zoomorphic images of “animals in a heraldic pose” from the church on Mount Lashkendar (Republic of Abkhazia, Tkuarchalsky District), and a dog from the Alan tomb of the Kyafarskoe Hillfort (Karachay-Cherkess Republic, Zelenchuksky District), providing additional arguments for the animals’ identifi cation. The author explores the system of images of the Alan tomb to determine the semantics of the dog’s image in the Christian church’s decoration and comes to the conclusion that the symbolism of the dog’s image originates from pre-Christian beliefs (namely, those Zoroastrian). The article emphasizes the fruitfulness of studying the Alan-Abkhazian contacts using the example of architectural decoration: it makes possible to identify some images and specify their dates. The author offers a variant of identifi cation of the relief from Mount Lashkendar; defi nes the place of this unique monument in the course of formation of the original artistic culture of the Abkhazian Kingdom; notes the heterogeneous infl uences on this process, coming both from the territories of different regions of the Byzantine Empire (Constantinople, Cappadocia, etc.) and from Transcaucasia (Armenia, Georgia). The Alan-Abkhazian layer of cultural contacts is highlighted.

The article is devoted to the linguopoetic analysis of the ancient text of the Baroque period, in particular the panegyric “Evodiia” by G. Butovych, which is considered both the external design of the text, and the internal linguistic elements, caused by synthesis of the Baroque author’s thinking and sociocultural guidelines of the first half of the XVII century. The sociocultural circumstances of the creation of the “Evodiia” are revealed. The external, ornamental design of the Baroque monument is described, so such aesthetic elements of the panegyric as the graphic decoration of the text by the author and the inclusion of various actual Baroque elements (acrostic, heraldic verse, visual poem etc.) and internal language units, in particular stylistic figures and tropes, creating aesthetic effect are investigated. Linguopoetic parameters of “Evodiia” by G. Butovych, represented by architectonics and stylistically marked linguistic units, reveal the specifics of the panegyric as the original genre of the Baroque Period and testify to the peculiarities of the old Ukrainian literary language expressive means of the first half of the XVII century.

In the Archaic period, from the end of the seventh and above all in the sixth century bc, sphinxes are ubiquitous in the figured decoration of Greek temples. They appear not only as acroteria, but also on antefixes and simas. As acroteria, they always occur as lateral versions, flanking the central acroterion at a distance. Although these figures have recently been the subject of several exhaustive studies, their significance remains a matter of debate. In the absence of explicit texts, the only means of comprehending their meaning is by examining the combinations of figures in which the sphinx makes an appearance. It is their association in three-part or heraldic compositions with a central vegetal or floral motif which provides the key to the explanation. This group is similar to that known in the Levant in which two sphinxes flank a ‘Tree of Life’, a group which the Old Testament texts allow us to identify as the cherubim guarding the Tree of Life of Genesis 3.24. This group was transmitted to Cyprus and to the Aegean world without losing its meaning. A series of documents allows us to verify that the ‘extended’ group of acroteria that we are concerned with has not lost its symbolic value by comparison with the ‘compact’ group known particularly from Archaic Greek vase-painting. An explanation in terms of eschatological ends and aspirations also permits us to interpret the other associations of the sphinx – with gorgons, with horsemen and with ‘Nike' figures.

The splendour of John’s court may have fallen short of those of the early modern French kings at Versailles or his own Tudor, Stuart, and Hanoverian successors, but he presided over an impressive establishment. He had an extraordinary hunting establishment, with scores of men; dozens of highly trained birds of prey; hundreds of hunting dogs; and a large network of hunting lodges, parks, and forests. His court boasted a luxurious material culture, with rich stores of gold and silver plate, hundreds of pieces of jewellery studded with gems, and exotic and costly textiles. Though some aspects of court culture left fewer traces in the surviving records, enough survives to show the patronage of art and music, entertainment and spectacle, and books and learning. John also sponsored chivalric practices such as heraldry, and though he was a notable sexual predator, the influence of new ideas about love and romance was not entirely absent from his court. Despite John’s reputation for impiety, he carried out the religious activities expected of a king, and religion was an integral part of court life. The royal records reveal the ongoing efforts to provide the court with good and often expensive food and wine throughout the year, and John was particularly admired for his generous distribution of robes, food, and drink at his feasts. A significant portion of the court’s time was spent on the road, but this too was an important cultural site for court life and display, particularly in formal processions and royal entries, in which peacock hats, lavish decoration on horses, and lances gilded with gold might make an appearance. The constant itineration of the court meant that there was no one great palace on which John lavished resources, but he still invested heavily in his castles, palaces, and hunting lodges, and on the landscapes around them. Court culture was already highly developed in the early thirteenth century and surviving sources from other realms show this was true not only of the Plantagenet dynasty....