Figures
1 Olaf Holzapfel, Lichtbild Körper 3, 2012, hay and wood, 142 × 222 × 19 cm (Collection Museum Voorlinden, Wassenaar) 2
2 Charles Sander Peirce’s triadic sign relation 6
3 Paul Kockelman’s extension of Peirce’s triadic sign relation to a quadratic sign relation 20
4 Cesare Ripa, Carità, 17th century, print (printmaker: Pietro Paolo Tozzi), 10.5 × 12.5 cm (Catalogo generale dei Beni Culturali) cc-by 4.0. From Cesare Ripa, Nova Iconologia, 1618, P. P. Tozzi 33
5 Gian Lorenzo Bernini, Charity on the tomb of pope Urban VIII, 1627–1647, white marble, double life-size, apse Saint Peter’s, Vatican City 65
6 Giovanni Bellini, Pietà, c.1460, tempera on panel, 86 × 107 cm (Brera Pinacoteca, Milan) 67
7 Michelangelo Buonarroti, Expulsion from paradise (detail of Sistine Chapel ceiling fresco’s), 1508–1512, fresco painting (Vatican City, Sistine Chapel) 68
8 Gustave Courbet, A burial at Ornans, 1849, oil on canvas, 315 × 668 cm (Musée d’Orsay, Paris, RF 325) 90
9 Giovanni Battista Piranesi, various Roman Ionic capitals compared with Greek examples from Le Roy [S. Maria in Trastevere, S. Paolo fuori le Mura, S. Clemente, etc.], from Della Magnificenza e d’Architettura de’Romani (On the grandeur and the architecture of the Romans by Gio. Battista Piranesi, Fellow of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of London), tab. 20, mid-18th century, etching, 40 × 59.8 cm (New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 41.71.1.7(28)), The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Rogers Fund, transferred from the library, 1941 91
10 Workshop of Laurentius (attr.), Pavement cattedrale di Santa Maria Anagni, marble inlay, ca. 1225–1250, (Anagni, cattedrale di Santa Maria) 92
11 Carved decoration on the central Iwan of the ancient palace at Hatra (modern Iraq) 95
12 Ara pacis Augustae, detail east side, vegetal ornament, 13–9 BC, Rome 97
13 Ara pacis vegetal ornament abstracted pattern 98
14 Sub Dipylon Group, Attic late geometric Dipylon Amphora, ca. 735–720 BC, terracotta, height 135 cm (Leiden, Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, I 1909/1.1), Leiden, Rijksmuseum van Oudheden 100
15 Hirschfeld workgroup (attr.), Terracotta krater, ca. 750–735 BC, terracotta, height 108.3 cm, diameter 72.4 cm (New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 14.130.14), The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Roger Fund, 1914 100
16 Studies of Ionic capitals, Karl Botticher, Der Tektonik der Hellenen, 1852, Vol. 2 Tafel 29 102
17 Anonymous, Jug, 675–650 BC, painted pottery, height 41.5 cm × diameter 21.9 cm (London, British Museum, 1873,0820.385) 103
18 Anonymous, Pottery jug with high spout, ca. 1800–1500 BC, painted pottery, height 39.37 cm (London, British Museum, 1920,1015.1) 103
19 Juste Aurèle Meissonnier (draughtsman) and Laureolli (printmaker), title page Livre d’ornemens, 1733, paper, etching, height 116 mm × width 215 mm (Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, RP-P-1998-256) 104
20 Johannes of Lucas van Doetechem after Hans Vredeman de Vries, Drie verticale trofeeën met muziekinstrumenten, 1572, paper, etching, height 250 mm × width 183 mm (Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, RP-P-1998-362) 106
21 Abstraction of a pine tree 107
22 Triangle (solid and open) 111
23 Sol LeWitt, Floor piece no. 1 (cube structure based on nine modules) (detail), 1976, painted wood, sculpture, size of complete structure = 110.5 × 110.5 × 110.5 cm (Rotterdam, Boijmans van Beuningen, BEK 1546 (MK)) 114
24 Owen Jones, from The grammar of ornament (1856), Egyptian No. 8 (plate 11), image #23 116
25 Owen Jones, drawing from the Alhambra palace in Granada, Spain, from the book: Plans, elevations, sections, and details of the Alhambra, from drawings taken on the spot in 1834 by Jules Goury, and in 1834 and 1837 by Owen Jones 117
26 Scheme of steps to construct a grid 118
27 Owen Jones, wallpaper design, from The grammar of ornament (1856), by Owen Jones. Egyptian No. 7 (plate 10), image #23 127
28 Revetment tile, Turkey, Iznik, 1580–1590 AD, underglaze-painted fritware – Aga Khan Museum – Toronto, Canada 128
29 Glide reflection 130
30 Seven one-dimensional patterns 131
31 Seventeen two-dimensional patterns 132
32 Owen Jones, Lapidary ornamentation, from The grammar of ornament (1856), by Owen Jones. Celtic no. 1 (plate 63), images 1–5 135
33 Kolam in front of a house in Tamil Nadu, India 137
34 Master of the Book of Lindisfarne, Carpet page, late 7th century, parchment, 27.5 × 23.5 cm (British Library, London) 138
35 Anonymous, detail Roman floor tablinium House of the Faun, 180–170 BC, Pompeii 139
36 Masaccio, Trinità, 1425, fresco, 667 × 317 cm (Florence, Santa Maria Novella) 148
37 Lines and points 151
38 Surface 153, 239
39 Intersecting lines and perimeter 153
40 Perimeter 154
41 Triangle and rectangle 154
42 Parallelogram 155
43 Circle 156
44 Albrecht Dürer, Draughtsman making a perspective drawing of a reclining woman, 1525, woodcut, 75 × 215 mm from Underweysung der Messung mit dem Zirckel und Richtscheyt. Nuremberg, 1525 (Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, RP-P-OB-1492) 157
45 Owen Jones, Ornament from Persian manuscripts in the British Museum, from The grammar of ornament (1856), by Owen Jones. Persian no. 1 (plate 44), image 1 161
46 Masaccio, Trinità (detail), 1425–1428, fresco (Florence, Santa Maria Novella) 162
47 Piero della Francesca, The flagellation of Christ, 1459–1460, tempera on wood, 58.4 × 81.8 cm (Urbino, Galleria Nazionale delle Marche) 163
48 From Taylor Brook, New Principles of Linear Perspective, London: R. Knaplock, 1719, Fig. 1 164
49 Drawing a checkerboard floor in perspective 165
50 Trapezoid 167
51 Horizontals, verticals and diagonals 173
52 Gustave Doré, Crucifixion of Christ, 1866, woodcut engraved by J. Gauchard Brunier for the Heilige Schrift. Stuttgart: Stuttgarter Druck- und Verlaghaus Eduard Hallberger, 1867 176
53 Pietro Lorenzetti, Nativity of the Virgin, 1335–1342, tempera on panel, 182 × 187 cm (Siena, Museo dell’Opera del Duomo) 178
54 Donatello, The feast of Herod, ca. 1425, gilded bronze relief sculpture, 28 × 28 cm (Siena, Baptistery) 180
55 Leonardo da Vinci, Virgin and Child with Saint Anne, 1508–1510, oil on panel, 168 × 130 cm (Paris, Louvre) 184
56 Chiharu Shiota, Conversations between others, 2023, wool, desk, and chair (from Duo exhibition Song Dong and Shiota Chiharu, Yuelai Art Museum Chongqing, China) 186
57 Mappamundi; Ptolemy’s oikumene as illustrated in a late fourteenth century Greek edition of the Geographia’, Plut. 28.49, c.11, folios 98v–99r, Laurentian Libarary, Florence 191
58 Doorsill, 645 BC, Nineveh, North Palace, gypsum, carved, 246 × 304.6 cm (London, British Museum, 1856,0909.57) 206
59 ‘Assyrian carpet pattern engraved in stone’, from: Semper 1860, p. 54 207
60 Gypsum wall panel showing two pairs of Assyrian archers and slingers at a siege …, 700–692 BC, Nineveh, Southwest Palace, gypsum, approx. 93.8 × 101.6 × 15.24 cm (London, British Museum, 1851,0902.27) 208
61 Egyptian basket column capital, from: Semper 1879, p. 34 209
62 Owen Jones, Wallpaper design, from The grammar of ornament (1856), by Owen Jones, No. 13 from Plate X (Egyptian No. 7) 212
63 Gypsum wall panel relief depicting lion hunt, 645–635 BC, Nineveh, North Palace, gypsum, 157.5 × 127 cm (London, British Museum, 1856,0909.16) 213
64 Assyrian ruler ornament, from: Semper 1860 p. 23 215
65 No title: from: Semper 1860, p. XXV 216
66 Ochre stone from Blombos cave, approx. 70,000 years old. Chris S. Henshilwood, no changes made 220
67 The geometric pattern on Pseudodon DUB1006-fL. a, Overview. b, Schematic representation. c, Detail of main engraving area. d, Detail of posterior engravings. Scale bars, 1 cm in a and c; 1 mm in d. Shell found near Trinil, Java, Indonesia. Nature 2015, p. 230 220
68 Lower Palaeolithic ‘feline bone’ from Bilzingsleben Germany, tracing of lines at the bone’s extremity, from Lorblanchet and Bahn 2017, ill. 30, top image, 131 222
69 ‘The ‘happy few’: the Lower and Middle Paleolithic bones with striations organized into geometric motifs that can be considered intentional and symbolic’, ill. 33 from Lorblanchet and Bahn 2017, 143. Fonts modified by author 224
70 Knot, Semper 1860, p. 180 236
71 The wreath and the string, Semper 1860, pp. 14–15 237
72 The band, Semper 1860, p. 20 238
73 Different types of Egyptian weaves, Semper 1860, p. 189 239
74 Anonymous, marble slab with weave pattern, date unknown, stairs Sant’ Agnese fuori le Mura, Rome 245
75 Vase with geometric decorations in Halaf style, 6,000–5,100 BC, terracotta, Mesopotamia, Northern Syria, (Louvre, Paris, inv. AO 29599) 246
76 Terracotta pot with net ornament, Semper 1879, p. 83 247
Tables
1 Concepts of Gell and Kockelman juxtaposed 59
2 Timeline of Palaeolithic marks on objects and surfaces by human species (probable early/earliest appearances) 120
3 Palaeolithic time periods with the main human species discussed in this chapter 248