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Rosette (design) facts for kids

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Orna115-Rosetten
Rosette designs from Meyer's Handbook of Ornament
Marble rosettes of Rucellai Sepulchre

A rosette is a round, stylized flower 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.

  • ThaleaStela

    Ancient Greek funerary stele with three rosettes at the top, c. 150 BC, marble, Louvre

  • Gandhara Buddha (tnm)

    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

  • Sitting bull Louvre AO7021

    Sumerian bull with rosettes, c.3000 BC, black marble, Louvre

  • Mohenjo-daro Priesterkönig

    Priest-King, a Harappan artwork, 2400–1900 BC, low fired steatite, National Museum of Pakistan, Karachi

  • MM IIB Kamares style stemmed bowl from Phaistos - Herakleion AM 10578 - 04

    Minoan rosettes on a Kamares krater, 1850-1700 BC, ceramic, Archaeological Museum of Heraklion, Heraklion, Greece

  • "Die Fresken von Akrotiri zählen zu den spektakulärsten Zeugen der Bronzezeit." 28

    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

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

  • Painted wooden chest from the tomb of Tutankhamun, 1333-1323 BCE; Egyptian Museum, Cairo (3)

    Ancient Egyptian rosettes on the wooden chest of Tutankhamun, 1336-1327 BC, wood inlayed with ivory, Egyptian Museum, Cairo

  • Fresco, rosettes, running spirals, Tiryns, 13th c BC, AM of Nafplio, 202135

    Mycenaean volutes, part of a mural from a palace in Tiryns, Greece, 13th century BC, fresco, Archaeological Museum of Nafplion, Nafplio, Greece

  • Carved ivory from Nimrud (Kalhu), human face, 9th to 7th century BCE. From Nimrud, Iraq. Iraq Museum, Baghdad

    Assyrian rosettes on a ivory piece from Nimrud, 9th to 7th century BC, ivory, Iraq Museum, Baghdad

  • 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

    Babylonian glazed brick fragments with rosette decoration, 539-330 BC, burned and glazed clay, Vorderasiatisches Museum Berlin

  • Persépolis, Irán, 2016-09-24, DD 50 (cropped section)

    Persian Achaemenid rosette friezes on a wall, c.490 BC, limestone, in situ, Persepolis, Iran

  • Greece-0113 - North Porch (2215074445)

    Ancient Greek rosettes around a door of the Erechtheion, Athens, Greece, unknown architect, 421-405 BC

  • Θεσσαλονίκη - Αρχαιολογικό Μουσείο 1418

    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

    Roman meander with rosettes on the Temple of Hadrianus, Ephesus, Turkey, unknown architect or sculptor, 117-118 AD

  • Arco di settimio severo, rilievi arco 05

    Roman rosettes in the ceiling of the Arch of Septimius Severus, Rome, unknown architect, 203

  • Villa di cerreto guidi, loggia dx, frammento scultoreo 02

    Roman rosettes on a frieze, unknown date, probably marble, Villa medicea di Cerreto Guidi, Cerreto Guidi, Italy

  • Keystones with rosettes, circa 705-715, limestone, from Chirbat al-Minya, Israel, Inv. -Nr. I. 7578, I. 7579, I. 7580, Pergamon Museum

    Islamic keystones with rosettes, c.705-715, limestone, Pergamon Museum, Berlin

  • Vezelay chapiteau cloitre4

    Romanesque rosettes on a pair of capitals from the Vézelay Abbey, Vézelay, France, unknown architect, 1120-1150

  • British Museum Royal Gold Cup

    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

    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

  • Print (France) (CH 18253253)

    Rosettes, 17th or 18th centuries, print, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, New York City

  • Print (France) (CH 18253263)

    Rosettes, 17th or 18th centuries, print, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

  • Print (France) (CH 18253279)

    Rosettes, 17th or 18th centuries, print, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

  • Paris - Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel - 003

    Neoclassical rosettes in the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, Paris, by Charles Percier and Pierre-François-Léonard Fontaine, 1806-1808

  • Chambre de Louis XVIII-Charles X - Fauteuil (Louvre, GMT 28590)

    Neoclassical rosettes on the arms of an armchair, by Jacob Desmalter, 1808, gilded wood, Louvre

  • Stool from the former Palais des Tuileries in Paris (stamped with inventory mark)

    Neoclassical rosettes on a stool, by François-Honoré-Georges Jacob-Desmalter, c.1810, gilded wood, unknown location

  • Pair of Spindle Vases - OA 11090 - Louvre (08)

    Neoclassical rosettes on a vase, by the Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory, 1814, hard-paste porcelain with platinum background and gilt bronze mounts, Louvre

  • 1-3 Strada Benjamin Franklin, Bucharest (14)

    Simplified Neoclassical rosettes of a door of the Romanian Atheneum, Bucharest, Romania, by Albert Galleron, 1888

  • 21 Strada Ionel Perlea, Bucharest (15)

    Rosettes on the Beaux-Arts fence of Strada Ionel Perlea no. 21, Bucharest, unknown architect, c.1900

  • Rosette on a door handle of a door of the University Building (Bucharest, Romania)

    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

  • 2-4 Strada Episcopiei, Bucharest (04)

    Rosettes on Beaux-Arts balconies of Strada Episcopiei no. 2-4, Bucharest, unknown architect, c.1920

  • 56 Strada Grigore Cobălcescu, Bucharest (02)

    Art Deco rosettes on Strada Grigore Cobălcescu no. 56, Bucharest, unknown architect, c.1930

See also

  • Six petal rosette
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