Key pattern
{{Short description|Type of interlocking geometric motif}}
File:Key pattern detail.jpg, Scotland.]]
Key pattern is the generic term for an interlocking geometric motif made from straight lines or bars that intersect to form rectilinear spiral shapes.{{Cite book|last=Hull|first=Derek|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/52695754|title=Celtic and Anglo-Saxon art : geometric aspects|date=2003|publisher=Liverpool University Press|isbn=0-85323-549-X|location=Liverpool|oclc=52695754}}{{Cite book|last=Bain|first=Iain|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/29428299|title=Celtic key patterns|date=1994|publisher=Sterling Pub. Co|isbn=0-8069-0740-1|location=New York|oclc=29428299}}{{Cite book|last=Thickpenney|first=Cynthia|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1180971230|title=Peopling Insular Art: Practice, Performance, Perception|date=2020|publisher=Oxbow Books|others=Cynthia Thickpenny, Katherine Forsyth, J. Geddes, Kate Mathis|isbn=978-1-78925-455-6|location=Oxford, UK|chapter=Making Key pattern in Insular art: The Harley Golden Gospels and Kilmartin Cross|oclc=1180971230}} According to Allen and Anderson, the negative space between the lines or bars of a key pattern “resemb[es] the L- or T-shaped slots in an ordinary key to allow it to pass the wards of the lock.”{{Cite book|last1=Allen|first1=J. Romilly|url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100968327|title=The early Christian monuments of Scotland.|last2=Anderson|first2=Joseph|last3=Society of Antiquaries of Scotland|date=1903|publisher=Printed by Neill & co., limited|location=Edinburgh|pages=308}}
Key patterns have been discovered and used in ornamentation by a number of global cultures in human history, and are thought to largely have been designed independently of each other.{{Cite journal|last1=Radovic|first1=Ljilana|last2=Jablan|first2=Slavik|date=2001|title=Antisymmetry and Modularity in Ornamental Art|url=http://t.archive.bridgesmathart.org/2001/bridges2001-55.pdf|journal=Bridges: Mathematical Connections in Art, Music, and Science [Conference Proceedings]|pages=55–65}} The earliest examples of key patterns are seen in textile ornaments from Mezin, Ukraine, dated to approximately 23,000 B.C.{{Cite journal|last1=Radovic|first1=Ljilana|last2=Jablan|first2=Slavik|date=2001|title=Antisymmetry and Modularity in Ornamental Art|url=http://t.archive.bridgesmathart.org/2001/bridges2001-55.pdf|journal=Bridges: Mathematical Connections in Art, Music, and Science [Conference Proceedings]|pages=55–65}}{{Cite book|last=Jablan|first=Slavik|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/62098419|title=Modularity : understanding the development and evolution of natural complex systems|date=2005|publisher=MIT Press|others=Werner Callebaut, Diego Rasskin-Gutman|isbn=978-0-262-26969-8|location=Cambridge, Mass.|chapter=Modularity in Art|oclc=62098419}}{{Cite journal|last1=Jablan|first1=Slavik|last2=Radović|first2=Ljiljana|date=2011-08-09|editor-last=Glanville|editor-first=Ranulph|title=Do you like paleolithic op‐art?|url=https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1108/03684921111160287/full/html|journal=Kybernetes|language=en|volume=40|issue=7/8|pages=1045–1054|doi=10.1108/03684921111160287|issn=0368-492X|url-access=subscription}} Key patterns were also common in textile and ceramic ornamentation during the Neolithic period, with examples found among archeological discoveries in present-day Fiji, Peru, Mexico, Moldova, Romania, Hungary, Yugoslavia, and Greece,{{Cite journal|last1=Radovic|first1=Ljilana|last2=Jablan|first2=Slavik|date=2001|title=Antisymmetry and Modularity in Ornamental Art|url=http://t.archive.bridgesmathart.org/2001/bridges2001-55.pdf|journal=Bridges: Mathematical Connections in Art, Music, and Science [Conference Proceedings]|pages=55–65}} as well as in pre-Christian Celtic art. The oldest known pair of pants, wool trousers found in a grave dated to approximately 1038-926 B.C. in present-day western China, have a decorative band of key patterns woven into them.{{Cite journal |last1=Beck |first1=Ulrike |last2=Wagner |first2=Mayke |last3=Li |first3=Xiao |last4=Durkin-Meisterernst |first4=Desmond |last5=Tarasov |first5=Pavel E. |date=2014-10-20 |title=The invention of trousers and its likely affiliation with horseback riding and mobility: A case study of late 2nd millennium BC finds from Turfan in eastern Central Asia |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1040618214002808 |journal=Quaternary International |series=The Bridging Eurasia Research Initiative: Modes of mobility and sustainability in the palaeoenvironmental and archaeological archives from Eurasia |language=en |volume=348 |pages=224–235 |doi=10.1016/j.quaint.2014.04.056 |issn=1040-6182|url-access=subscription }} In addition, extant examples of early medieval Insular art, such as stone decorations and illuminated manuscripts, as well as Japanese, Chinese, and Islamic decorative arts from different periods, feature key patterns.{{Cite journal|last=Herringham|first=Christiana J.|date=1909|title=Notes on Oriental Carpet Patterns-VI. Meander and Key Patterns|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/857910|journal=The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs|volume=15|issue=74|pages=98–104|jstor=857910 |issn=0951-0788}}{{Cite book|last=Wilson|first=Eva|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/18134247|title=Islamic designs for artists and craftpeople|date=1988|publisher=Dover Publications|isbn=0-486-25819-X|location=New York|oclc=18134247}}
Celtic mazes, Greek frets, and xicalcoliuhquis are examples of well-known designs that are considered to be key patterns.{{Cite journal|last1=Özkar|first1=Mine|last2=Lefford|first2=Nyssim|date=2006|title=Modal relationships as stylistic features: Examples from Seljuk and Celtic patterns|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/asi.20431|journal=Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology|language=en|volume=57|issue=11|pages=1551–1560|doi=10.1002/asi.20431|issn=1532-2890|url-access=subscription|hdl=11511/64376|hdl-access=free}}
Gallery
File:Handbook of archaeology, Egyptian - Greek - Etruscan - Roman (1867) (14594774800).jpg|Key patterns forming a border in the Roman Mosaic of Dioscorides as seen in the Handbook of Archaeology, Egyptian - Greek - Etruscan - Roman (1867)
File:El Tajin (9785936503).jpg|Key patterns seen in architectural details at El Tajín, a pre-Columbian archaeological site in southern Mexico.
File:02 2020 Grecia photo Paolo Villa FO190065 bis (Museo archeologico di Atene) Terracotta dipinta, Anfora del Maestro detto di Dipylon (dettaglio), opera funebre geometrica con salma su catafalco, piangenti, Kerameikos Atene, VIII sec a.C.jpg|A detail of key patterns from a Greek painted terracotta amphora from 8th century B.C. in the collection of the Archaeological Museum of Athens
File:Engaged Column Part with Meander Pattern MET DP350385.jpg|A fragment of an engaged column carved from limestone, with key patterns, rosettes, and acanthus leaves, from a 6th-century monastic community in Bawit, Egypt.
File:Fragment from a Frieze with Meander Pattern and Diamond-Shaped Rosettes MET 09.217.1a, b.jpeg|A fragment from a limestone frieze with diagonal key patterns and rosettes from 6th century Byzantine Egypt, in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
File:Ding (cooking vessel), China, Shang dynasty, 1300-1046 BC, bronze - Royal Ontario Museum - DSC03993.JPG|Rectilinear key patterns seen among other ornaments on a bronze Chinese cooking vessel from the Shang dynasty.
File:Sheet with Greek key and paisley pattern Met DP887050.jpg|A decorative paper sheet with paisley and Greek key patterns printed in relief from 18th century Italy in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
File:RugNavajo-BMA.jpg|A wool rug ca.1900-1920 from the Navajo people in the Early Crystal style, with key patterns forming the outer border.
File:Vintage pattern from The Practical Decorator and Ornamentist by G.A & M.A. Audsley from rawpixel’s own original first edition of the publication 10.jpg|Vintage Japanese designs of key patterns from The Practical Decorator and Ornamentist by G.A & M.A. Audsley
File:Vintage pattern from The Practical Decorator and Ornamentist by G.A & M.A. Audsley from rawpixel’s own original first edition of the publication 76.jpg|Vintage Japanese border designs using key patterns from The Practical Decorator and Ornamentist by G.A & M.A. Audsley
File:Vintage pattern from The Practical Decorator and Ornamentist by G.A & M.A. Audsley from rawpixel’s own original first edition of the publication 86.jpg|Antique Greek border designs of key patterns and other ornaments from The Practical Decorator and Ornamentist by G.A & M.A. Audsley
File:Handbook of ornament; a grammar of art, industrial and architectural designing in all its branches, for practical as well as theoretical use (1900) (14597695089).jpg|Variations in decorative key patterns from the Handbook of Ornament; A Grammar of Art, Industrial and Architectural Designing in All Its Branches, for Practical as well as Theoretical Use (1900)
File:Kongo Cushion Cover.jpg|Cushion Cover, 17th century. Kongo textiles, Kongo peoples; The Kingdom of Kongo. Ethnographic Museum, Stockholm.
References
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