ORNAMENT

ORNAMENT, traditional pattern built on the alternation and combination of geometrical or figurative (plant, zoomorphic, anthropomorphic) elements. O. was widely used by Bashkirs in the decoration of yurts and other dwellings, Bashkir costume, traditional adornments, household implements, sacred objects, weapons, harness, etc. The O. is based on the ancient symbols of religious and cult origin. The first ornamental themes with zoomorphic and solar signs are traced in the rock images of the Urals of the Stone Age, as well as geometric elements (points, strokes, zigzags, circles). The solar signs and ornamental themes, associated with the cult of the sun, symbolizing light, fire, life, eternal movement and development, were widely used in the decoration of various metal plates, clothes embroidered patches, military and horse equipment. In the era of the early Iron Age, the works of animal style, widely spread in the Urals, were richly ornamented with spiral‑shaped elements and curls; metal flat pendants, openwork plates with the image of man, animals and birds were spread in the medieval art of the Ural animal style. The modification of the patrimonial signs carved on wild bee hives, various wooden vessels for honey, kumys and milk, contributed to the expansion and complication of the graphical basis of O. With the advent of Islam, O. became extremely stylized, geometrical themes became the most common; O. was used in the epigraphic inscriptions of the Koranic texts in shamail, book graphics, decorative patterns (arabesques) of architectural structures, incl. mosques.

Two basic types of ornamental themes have developed in the traditional art of the Bashkirs: geometrical (especially prominent is the diamond – the symbol of fertility, a life‑giving source) and curvilinear snail-like elements (in various combinations they resemble grass, bud, horns, wave, flower, sun, tree — a symbol of the life force of the family). Bashkir O., as a rule, is multicoloured, it is distinguished by brightness and contrast, it is dominated by red, yellow and green colours of warm tones; the natural colours of wool are traditionally used (white, gray, black), sometimes blue, light‑blue, purple; the background colour is mostly red, yellow, black, rarely white. In the structure of O. there is symmetry, its rhythmic development ascends from simple to complex compositions (mirror, band, round, mesh).

Traditionally O., its separate elements and their interpretations are used in the creative works of the folk masters and professional artists of the RB (ref. Decorative­-applied art).