Rosette (design)

Origin

The rosette derives from the natural shape of the botanical rosette, formed by leaves radiating out from the stem of a plant and visible even after the flowers have withered.

History

The rosette design is used extensively in sculptural objects from antiquity, appearing in Mesopotamia, and in funeral steles' decoration in Ancient Greece. The rosette was another important symbol of Ishtar which had originally belonged to Inanna along with the Star of Ishtar.

It was adopted later in Romaneseque and Renaissance architecture, and also common in the art of Central Asia, spreading as far as India where it is used as a decorative motif in Greco-Buddhist art.

Ancient origins

One of the earliest appearances of the rosette in ancient art is in early fourth millennium BC Egypt. Another early Mediterranean occurrence of the rosette design derives from Minoan Crete; Among other places, the design appears on the Phaistos Disc, recovered from the eponymous archaeological site in southern Crete.

File:ThaleaStela.JPG|Ancient Greek funerary stele with three rosettes at the top, BC, marble, Louvre File:Gandhara Buddha (tnm).jpeg|Greco-Buddhist rosettes at the bottom of a statue of the Buddha from Gandhara, 1st-2nd century AD, schistose rock, Tokyo National Museum

Modern use

The formalised flower motif is often carved in stone or wood to create decorative ornaments for architecture and furniture, and in metalworking, jewelry design and the applied arts to form a decorative border or at the intersection of two materials.

Rosette decorations have been used for formal military awards. They also appear in modern, civilian clothes, and are often worn prominently in political or sporting events. Rosettes sometimes decorate musical instruments, such as around the perimeter of sound holes of guitars.

Gallery

File:Sitting bull Louvre AO7021.jpg|Sumerian bull with rosettes, 3000 BC, black marble, Louvre

Mohenjo-daro Priesterkönig.jpeg|Priest-King, a Harappan artwork, 2400–1900 BC, low fired steatite, National Museum of Pakistan, Karachi

File:MM IIB Kamares style stemmed bowl from Phaistos - Herakleion AM 10578 - 04.jpg|Minoan rosettes on a Kamares krater, 1850-1700 BC, ceramic, Archaeological Museum of Heraklion, Heraklion, Greece

File:"Die Fresken von Akrotiri zählen zu den spektakulärsten Zeugen der Bronzezeit." 28.jpg|Minoan rosettes on a fresco from Akrotiri, 17th century BC, fresco, Museum of Prehistoric Thera, Thera, Santorini, Greece

Ceiling painting from the palace of Amenhotep III MET DT256117.jpg|Ancient Egyptian rosettes on a ceiling painting from the palace of Amenhotep III, 1390–1353 BC, dried mud, mud plaster and paint Gesso, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City

File:Painted wooden chest from the tomb of Tutankhamun, 1333-1323 BCE; Egyptian Museum, Cairo (3).jpg|Ancient Egyptian rosettes on the wooden chest of Tutankhamun, 1336-1327 BC, wood inlayed with ivory, Egyptian Museum, Cairo

File:Fresco, rosettes, running spirals, Tiryns, 13th c BC, AM of Nafplio, 202135.jpg|Mycenaean volutes, part of a mural from a palace in Tiryns, Greece, 13th century BC, fresco, Archaeological Museum of Nafplion, Nafplio, Greece

File:Carved ivory from Nimrud (Kalhu), human face, 9th to 7th century BCE. From Nimrud, Iraq. Iraq Museum, Baghdad.jpg|Assyrian rosettes on an ivory piece from Nimrud, 9th to 7th century BC, ivory, Iraq Museum, Baghdad

File:Glazed brick fragments with rosette decoration, 539-330 BC, burned and glazed clay, from Babylon, from Babylon, VA Bab 04216, VA Bab 04787, VA Bab 04788, Vorderasiatisches Museum Berlin.jpg|Babylonian glazed brick fragments with rosette decoration, 539-330 BC, burned and glazed clay, Vorderasiatisches Museum Berlin

File:Persépolis, Irán, 2016-09-24, DD 50 (cropped section).jpg|Persian Achaemenid rosette friezes on a wall, 490 BC, limestone, in situ, Persepolis, Iran

File:Greece-0113 - North Porch (2215074445).jpg|Ancient Greek rosettes around a door of the Erechtheion, Athens, Greece, unknown architect, 421-405 BC

File:Plastic lekythos birth of Aphrodite (Boston MFA 00.629).jpg|Ancient Greek rosettes on a lekythos with Aphrodite rising from the sea, 4th century BC, ceramic, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, US

File:Taranto BW 2016-10-17 11-11-38 2.jpg|Ancient Greek rosettes on a pendant, 4th century BC, gold, National Archaeological Museum of Taranto, Taranto, Italy

File:Θεσσαλονίκη - Αρχαιολογικό Μουσείο 1418.jpg|Ancient Greek rosettes on a larnax of Philip II, 330-320 BC, gold and enamel, Museum of the Royal Tombs of Aigai, Vergina, Greece

Efeso, tempio di adriano 14.JPG|Roman meander with rosettes on the Temple of Hadrianus, Ephesus, Turkey, unknown architect or sculptor, 117-118 AD

File:Arco di settimio severo, rilievi arco 05.JPG|Roman rosettes in the ceiling of the Arch of Septimius Severus, Rome, unknown architect, 203

File:Villa di cerreto guidi, loggia dx, frammento scultoreo 02.jpg|Roman rosettes on a frieze, unknown date, probably marble, Villa medicea di Cerreto Guidi, Cerreto Guidi, Italy

File:Keystones with rosettes, circa 705-715, limestone, from Chirbat al-Minya, Israel, Inv. -Nr. I. 7578, I. 7579, I. 7580, Pergamon Museum.jpg|Islamic keystones with rosettes, 705-715, limestone, Pergamon Museum, Berlin

File:Vezelay chapiteau cloitre4.jpg|Romanesque rosettes on a pair of capitals from the Vézelay Abbey, Vézelay, France, unknown architect, 1120-1150

File:British Museum Royal Gold Cup.jpg|Tudor rose added under Henry VIII to the foot of the Gothic Royal Gold Cup, late 14th century, British Museum

Carpet with Fame and Fortitude MET DP212204.jpg|Baroque rosettes on a carpet with fame and fortitude, by the Savonnerie manufactory, 1668–1685, knotted and cut wool pile, woven with about 90 knots per square inch, Metropolitan Museum of Art

File:Print (France) (CH 18253253).jpg|Rosettes, 17th or 18th centuries, print, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, New York City

File:Print (France) (CH 18253263).jpg|Rosettes, 17th or 18th centuries, print, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

Print (France) (CH 18253279).jpg|Rosettes, 17th or 18th centuries, print, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

File:Paris - Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel - 003.jpg|Neoclassical rosettes in the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, Paris, by Charles Percier and Pierre-François-Léonard Fontaine, 1806-1808

File:Chambre de Louis XVIII-Charles X - Fauteuil (Louvre, GMT 28590).jpg|Neoclassical rosettes on the arms of an armchair, by Jacob Desmalter, 1808, gilded wood, Louvre

File:Stool from the former Palais des Tuileries in Paris (stamped with inventory mark).jpg|Neoclassical rosettes on a stool, by François-Honoré-Georges Jacob-Desmalter, 1810, gilded wood, unknown location

Pair of Spindle Vases - OA 11090 - Louvre (08).jpg|Neoclassical rosettes on a vase, by the Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory, 1814, hard-paste porcelain with platinum background and gilt bronze mounts, Louvre

File:Père-Lachaise - Crématorium 05.jpg|Neoclassical rosettes on the dome of the Crematorium of the Père-Lachaise Cemetery, Paris, by Jean Camille Formigé, 1886

File:1-3 Strada Benjamin Franklin, Bucharest (14).jpg|Simplified Neoclassical rosettes of a door of the Romanian Atheneum, Bucharest, Romania, by Albert Galleron, 1888

File:21 Strada Ionel Perlea, Bucharest (15).jpg|Rosettes on the Beaux-Arts fence of Strada Ionel Perlea no. 21, Bucharest, unknown architect, 1900

File:Madrid - Palacio Longoria 23.jpg|Art Nouveau rosettes on a gate of the Longoria Palace, Madrid, Spain, by José Grases Riera, 1902-1904

File:Rosette on a door handle of a door of the University Building (Bucharest, Romania).jpg|Neoclassical rosette on a handle of the lateral wing that faces Strada Edgar Quinet and Strada Academiei of the University Building, Bucharest, Romania, probably designed by Nicolae Ghica-Budești, 1914-1934

File:2-4 Strada Episcopiei, Bucharest (04).jpg|Rosettes on Beaux-Arts balconies of Strada Episcopiei no. 2-4, Bucharest, unknown architect, 1920

File:56 Strada Grigore Cobălcescu, Bucharest (02).jpg|Art Deco rosettes on Strada Grigore Cobălcescu no. 56, Bucharest, unknown architect, 1930

Footnotes

References

1. "Roset definition and meaning". HarperCollins.
2. Black, Jeremy; Green, Anthony (1992), Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia: An Illustrated Dictionary, The British Museum Press, {{ISBN. 0-7141-1705-6, p. 156
3. [[Alfred Cort Haddon. Haddon, Alfred Cort]]. ''Evolution in Art: As Illustrated by the Life-histories of Designs'', 1914, Scribner's, 364 pages
4. [http://themodernantiquarian.com/site/10857/phaistos.html#fieldnotes "Phaistos Fieldnotes"] by C.Michael Hogan, ''The Modern Antiquarian'', 2007
5. "[https://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/03/fashion/03ROW.html Blame the Rosettes]" by Eric Wilson, ''[[The New York Times]]'', 3 August 2006
6. See [[Rosette (politics). rosette in politics]]
7. 978-0415466608
8. (2017). "Pocket Museum - Ancient Greece". Thames & Hudson.
9. (2022). "The History of Art - From Prehistory to Presentday - A Global View". Thames & Hudson.
10. (2009). "10,000 YEARS OF ART". Phaidon.
11. (2022). "A History of Western Architecture". Laurence King.
12. (1975). "L’art grec". Mazenod.
13. (1975). "L’art grec". Mazenod.
14. (2022). "The History of Art - From Prehistory to Presentday - A Global View". Thames & Hudson.
15. "PAIRE DE VASES « FUSEAU »".
16. (2017). "Bucharest Architecture - an annotated guide". Ordinul Arhitecților din România.