Ornament in applied artsFrom antiquity to the present

In applied art, ornament could have aesthetic, identifying, social, and protective functions at the same time. It could indicate the purpose of an object, the place where it was made, the social status of its owner, or the community to which it belonged.

Large medallions, diamonds, cross-shaped designs, or vegetal images may appear in the center, while repeated geometric, floral, and animal motifs occupy the borders.

The material of the carpet encourages the geometricization of images. A plant, bird, or animal is often transformed into hooks, steps, diamonds, and symmetrical signs. Therefore, understanding the visual language of a carpet requires attention not only to an individual symbol but also to the composition as a whole.

Armenian carpets feature trees, flowers, birds, eagles, dragons, cross-shaped images, and star-like medallions. Some carpets also bear Armenian inscriptions, names, or dates, making them not only works of art but also testimonies to family and community history.

Embroidery could be placed on the collar, sleeves, chest, apron, headscarf, and edges of clothing. Ornamented areas often concentrated around open or transitional parts of the body, such as the neck, wrists, and head.

This may have been connected not only to aesthetic aims but also to folk beliefs about protection. The edges of clothing were viewed as boundaries between the body and the outside world, and their decoration could therefore acquire a protective meaning.

Vegetal, geometric, cross-shaped, solar, and bird motifs were widespread in traditional dress. Yet the clothing of different regions varied in color, textile, density of embroidery, and arrangement of patterns.

Canon tables are often designed like architectural structures, with columns, arches, and vegetal or animal decoration. They not only beautify the manuscript but also prepare the reader to receive the sacred text.

Miniaturists widely used curling plants, palmettes, flowers, birds, animals, interlaces, and geometric borders. Sometimes ornament penetrates the letter itself, and the letter is transformed into an animal, bird, or plant.

Manuscript ornament is especially important because color, line, and gold allow for a delicacy that cannot be reproduced in exactly the same way in stone or textile.

Church vessels, crosses, lecterns, belts, weapons, jewelry, and household objects were decorated. Crosses, vegetal scrolls, animal figures, stars, and interlaced designs appear frequently.

The shine of metal also becomes part of the composition. Under light, the ornament changes in expression, while the contrast between recessed and raised areas creates a three-dimensional effect.

In woodcarving, ornaments were used on doors, furniture, lecterns, church objects, and household items. Interlaces, rosettes, and continuous vegetal bands were especially suitable for wood.

Many of these materials are more vulnerable than stone, and only a relatively small number of ancient wooden, textile, or household objects have survived. For this reason, every preserved example is an important source not only for the study of art but also for the study of everyday life.