In the final days before the new ceiling was installed, its curlicues and scroll patterns -- painted on canvas after stencils of the original ceiling were made -- dominated much of the studio's floor and wall space.
The rectilinear patterns were transmitted from woven materials to Luoyang bronze mirrors and appeared in paintings on both lacquer and silk; and the curvilinear scroll patterns, which are not natural to weaving, were probably adapted for embroidery from the rhythmic conventions of lacquer painting, which also provided scroll motifs for inlaid bronzes and paintings on silk.
The former occur within scenes and were rare before about 1913; the latter typically introduce scenes and began to appear incrementally in about 1901, often with text surrounded by artistically illustrated scroll patterns.
Boiré did the linework for Patience and Discipline, meticulously outlining ornate plant and scroll patterns that hearken back to ancient book-making, and Casalta shaded the entire 22 x 30-in2 space.
The seven plates, damascened overall with gold foil, are embellished with highly detailed dragons, writhing amid the intricate scroll patterning and punctuated by stone ornaments.
The apse decoration of San Clemente (the 1st half of the 12th century), for example, contains a scroll pattern (rinceaux) reproduced from a 4th-century decoration in a technique that in many respects resembles that of the Paschal mosaics.
A vivid example is a small, round 13th-century box with a configuration of spirals, called a "pommel scroll pattern," carved about a quarter-inch deep on its top: looking closely, you can see that the sides of the V-shaped grooves are striated by many fine layers of green, black and yellow.
Similarly, a late-18th- or early-19th-century New Mexican embroidered wool bed covering was woven with floral elements, including seven large C-scroll patterns, which resemble cotton or calico fabrics imported to New Mexico from East India.
In many parts of Southeast Asia, including Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, Sumatra, and Indonesia, designs originally based upon Indian flowering-scroll patterns can be found in architecture, textiles, theatre costumes, musical instruments, and wooden utensils, all efflorescing with extravagant curling ornament.
But not, it seemed, just the scrolling patterns with which the designer embellished dresses that might be shown under a new favorite of the fashion season: the narrow cape.
Scrolling patterns of flowers and leaves filled with geometric filling stitches are characteristic of blackwork from the 1540s through 1590s, and similar patterns worked in coloured silks appear from the 1560s, outlined in backstitch and filled with detached buttonhole stitch.
