Treasury of Historic Pattern and Design

Book excerpt: This rich sourcebook of design features 480 magnificently detailed decorative patterns and motifs, most of them originally created in Europe in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Reprinted from a rare surviving copy of a Victorian design portfolio, it offers both a boundless, royalty-free source of inspiration and an informal by far-ranging survey of notable achievements in the history of design. These intricate and ornate patterns were taken from silk fabrics, carpets, embroideries, robes, velvet brocades, damask wearings, wallpapers, interior, and other decorative genres that flourished in France, Germany, Spain, Italy, and elsewhere over the course of more than eight centuries.