2-756-626 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Middle eastern wood and metalwork, (1898). 'Arabian - Ornament in Wood and Metal...To prevent looking in from the outside without hindering a free look-out, the window-openings facing the street were furnished with wooden lattices, shaped by art in a very elegant manner (Figs 2 and 3). Especially, however, the inventive ingenuity of Arabian art-workmen was engaged in decorating the doors. Fig 1 for instance presents us a panel of a richly carved and chiselled door, whilst in Figs 5-15 a great selection of bronze door fittings will be found, the latter being applied so as either to form the ornament itself, or so that the parts of the wood uncovered by the metal, bring out the pattern. Fig 4 is an escutcheon executed in bronze, and occurring also on many Arabian coins'. Plate 24 from "The Historic Styles of Ornament" translated from the German of H. Dolmetsch. [B.T. Batford, London, 1898]