For design professionals as well as art lovers, this magnificent treasury charts the evolution of color throughout the ages in the decorative arts. 100 color plates.

One of the great anthologies of historic ornament and design, on a par with Owen Jones' Grammar of Ornament and Racinet's Historic Ornament, Dolmetsch's dazzling collection of over 1,500 illustrations — most in full color — is a veritable treasure chest of royalty-free images. Artists, designers, and hobbyists will also find design inspiration on every page, with images of artistic ornaments from antiquity through the 19th century, when this volume was originally assembled. Arranged chronologically, coverage begins in the ancient world, with designs from Roman architecture and sculpture, mosaic floors of Pompeii, and Byzantine embroidery. From the Middle Ages come illuminated manuscripts and stained glass decorations. Items dating from the Renaissance and later include Italian glass painting, pottery, and lace; French tapestry and block printing; and German metal work and weaving.

Teeming with tapestries, manuscript illuminations, carpets, and tiles, this far-reaching compendium brings together the two greatest 19th-century catalogues of ornament into one indispensable reference book. Encompassing designs from medieval times through to the 19th century, in styles as diverse as Egyptian, Etruscan, or Middle Eastern, this...