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In art and iconography, a motif () is an element of an
image An image is a visual representation of something. It can be two-dimensional, three-dimensional, or somehow otherwise feed into the visual system to convey information. An image can be an artifact, such as a photograph or other two-dimensio ...
. The term can be used both of figurative and narrative art, and ornament and geometrical art. A motif may be repeated in a pattern or design, often many times, or may just occur once in a work. A motif may be an element in the iconography of a particular subject or type of subject that is seen in other works, or may form the main subject, as the Master of Animals motif in ancient art typically does. The related motif of
confronted animals Confronted animals, or confronted-animal as an adjective, where two animals face each other in a symmetrical pose, is an ancient bilateral motif in art and artifacts studied in archaeology and art history. The "anti-confronted animals" is the o ...
is often seen alone, but may also be repeated, for example in
Byzantine silk Byzantine silk is silk woven in the Byzantine Empire (Byzantium) from about the fourth century until the Fall of Constantinople in 1453. The Byzantine capital of Constantinople was the first significant silk-weaving center in Europe. Silk was on ...
and other ancient textiles. Where the main subject of an artistic work such as a painting is a specific person, group, or moment in a narrative, that should be referred to as the "subject" of the work, not a motif, though the same thing may be a "motif" when part of another subject, or part of a work of decorative art such as a painting on a vase. Ornamental or decorative art can usually be analysed into a number of different elements, which can be called motifs. These may often, as in
textile art Textile arts are arts and crafts that use plant, animal, or synthetic fibers to construct practical or decorative objects. Textiles have been a fundamental part of human life since the beginning of civilization. The methods and materials us ...
, be repeated many times in a pattern. Important examples in Western art include acanthus, egg and dart, and various types of
scrollwork The scroll in art is an element of ornament and graphic design featuring spirals and rolling incomplete circle motifs, some of which resemble the edge-on view of a book or document in scroll form, though many types are plant-scrolls, which l ...
.


Some examples

Geometric, typically repeated:
Meander A meander is one of a series of regular sinuous curves in the channel of a river or other watercourse. It is produced as a watercourse erodes the sediments of an outer, concave bank ( cut bank) and deposits sediments on an inner, convex ban ...
,
palmette The palmette is a motif in decorative art which, in its most characteristic expression, resembles the fan-shaped leaves of a palm tree. It has a far-reaching history, originating in ancient Egypt with a subsequent development through the art ...
, rosette, gul in Oriental rugs, acanthus, egg and dart,
Bead and reel Bead and reel is an architectural motif, usually found in sculptures, moldings and numismatics. It consists in a thin line where beadlike elements alternate with cylindrical ones. It is found throughout the modern Western world in architectural d ...
,
Pakudos A pakudos is a visual motif used by the Hanunuo Mangyan people of Mindoro in the Philippines. Pakudos are characterized by symmetrical, aesthetic, and orderly utilization of lines and space with equal utilization of vertical and horizontal co ...
, Sauwastika, Adinkra symbols. Figurative: Master of Animals,
confronted animals Confronted animals, or confronted-animal as an adjective, where two animals face each other in a symmetrical pose, is an ancient bilateral motif in art and artifacts studied in archaeology and art history. The "anti-confronted animals" is the o ...
, velificatio, Death and the Maiden,
Three hares The three hares (or three rabbits) is a circular motif or meme appearing in sacred sites from East Asia, the Middle East and to the churches of Devon, England (as the " Tinners' Rabbits"), and historical synagogues in Europe. It is used as an a ...
, Sheela na gig, puer mingens. In the Nativity of Jesus in art, the detail of showing
Saint Joseph Joseph (; el, Ἰωσήφ, translit=Ioséph) was a 1st-century Jewish man of Nazareth who, according to the canonical Gospels, was married to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and was the legal father of Jesus. The Gospels also name some brothers ...
as asleep, which was common in medieval depictions, can be regarded as a "motif". Many designs in
Islamic culture Islamic culture and Muslim culture refer to cultural practices which are common to historically Islamic people. The early forms of Muslim culture, from the Rashidun Caliphate to the early Umayyad period and the early Abbasid period, were predom ...
are motifs, including those of the sun, moon, animals such as horses and lions, flowers, and landscapes. Motifs can have emotional effects and be used for propaganda. In kilim flatwoven carpets, motifs such as the hands-on-hips
elibelinde Elibelinde (Turkish for "hands on hips") is a Turkish motif of a hands-on-hips female figure. It is widely used on kilims (flat tapestry-woven carpets) and occurs in many variations. The arms of the figure are represented by two inward-facing hooks, ...
are woven in to the design to express the hopes and concerns of the weavers: the elibelinde symbolises the female principle and
fertility Fertility is the capability to produce offspring through reproduction following the onset of sexual maturity. The fertility rate is the average number of children born by a female during her lifetime and is quantified demographically. Ferti ...
, including the desire for children. Pennsylvania Dutch hex signs are a familiar type of motif in the eastern portions of the United States. Their circular and symmetric design, and their use of brightly colored patterns from nature, such as stars, compass roses, doves, hearts, tulips, leaves, and feathers have made them quite popular. The idea of a motif has become used more broadly in discussing
literature Literature is any collection of Writing, written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to ...
and other narrative arts for an element in the story that represents a theme.James H. Grayson. ''Myths and Legends from Korea: An Annotated Compendium of Ancient and Modern Materials'' (p. 9). New York and Abingdon:
Routledge Routledge () is a British multinational publisher. It was founded in 1836 by George Routledge, and specialises in providing academic books, journals and online resources in the fields of the humanities, behavioural science, education, law ...
Curzon, 2000. .
Alain Silver and James Ursini, (2004
Some Visual Motifs of ''Film Noir''


Gallery

File:Corinthian capital1.jpg,
Composite Composite or compositing may refer to: Materials * Composite material, a material that is made from several different substances ** Metal matrix composite, composed of metal and other parts ** Cermet, a composite of ceramic and metallic materials ...
capital whose design includes acanthus leaf, and volute motifs File:Elibelinde2.jpg,
Elibelinde Elibelinde (Turkish for "hands on hips") is a Turkish motif of a hands-on-hips female figure. It is widely used on kilims (flat tapestry-woven carpets) and occurs in many variations. The arms of the figure are represented by two inward-facing hooks, ...
kilim motifs, symbolising
fertility Fertility is the capability to produce offspring through reproduction following the onset of sexual maturity. The fertility rate is the average number of children born by a female during her lifetime and is quantified demographically. Ferti ...
File:The Cloisters Apocalypse MET DP225756 (cropped).jpg, Saint Joseph sleeps through the Nativity, Cloisters Apocalypse, c. 1330 File:IntegrityBarnstar.png, Pennsylvania Dutch motif known as a hex sign File:Gebel el-Arak Knife ivory handle (front top part).jpg, Gebel el-Arak Knife with Master of Animals motif at the top of the handle File:Sheila-na-gig, Kilpeck.JPG, 12th century sheela na gig on the
Church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chri ...
, at Kilpeck (England) File:Orna115-Rosetten.png, Rosette designs from Meyer's ''Handbook of Ornament'' File:Wallpaper group-p2-3.jpg, Illustration from '' The Grammar of Ornament'' Egyptian No 7 (plate 10), image #20 File:Greek key on a stove in the in the D.A. Sturdza House, in Bucharest.jpg, Greek key tiles on a stove in a house from
Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north o ...
(
Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...
) File:Cartouche on the house with number 9, on the Doctor Dimitrie D. Gerota street from Bucharest (Romania).jpg, A
cartouche In Egyptian hieroglyphs, a cartouche is an oval with a line at one end tangent to it, indicating that the text enclosed is a royal name. The first examples of the cartouche are associated with pharaohs at the end of the Third Dynasty, but the f ...
on a Neo-Baroque city-house from Bucharest File:Porte d'entrée Paris.jpg, Art Nouveau mascaron above a door in Paris File:28 Vynnychenka Street, Lviv (02).jpg, A festoon, a widely used ornament in
Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic pe ...
,
Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...
,
Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including ...
and Neoclassical File:Persian Silk Brocade - Paisley - Persian Paisley - Abdollah Salami - 1939.jpg,
Paisley (design) Paisley or paisley pattern is an ornamental textile design using the ''boteh'' ( fa, بته) or ''buta'', a teardrop-shaped motif with a curved upper end. Of Persian origin, paisley designs became popular in the West in the 18th and 19th centur ...
. File:Expo 98 January 2016-5.jpg, On a building in the
Parque das Nações The Parque das Nações (; en, Park of the Nations), colloquially known as Expo (as the site of the 1998 Lisbon World Exposition), is a ''freguesia'' (civil parish) of Lisbon, the capital of Portugal. Located in eastern Lisbon, Parque das Naçõ ...
in Lisbon. File:Wallpaper group-p6m-1.jpg, Illustration from ''The Grammar of Ornament'' (1856). File:Tønder motif.png, Motif in lace. File:Boteh tissu.jpg, Persian motif in textile. File:TajFlowerCloseUp.jpg, Motif of a plant,
Taj Mahal The Taj Mahal (; ) is an Islamic ivory-white marble mausoleum on the right bank of the river Yamuna in the Indian city of Agra. It was commissioned in 1631 by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan () to house the tomb of his favourite wife, ...


See also

*
Three hares The three hares (or three rabbits) is a circular motif or meme appearing in sacred sites from East Asia, the Middle East and to the churches of Devon, England (as the " Tinners' Rabbits"), and historical synagogues in Europe. It is used as an a ...


Notes


Further reading

*Hoffman, Richard. ''Decorative Flower and Leaf Designs''. Dover Publications (1991), *Jones, Owen. ''The Grammar of Ornament''. Dover Publications, Revised edition (1987), *Welch, Patricia Bjaaland.
Chinese art: a guide to motifs and visual imagery
'. Turtle Publishing (2008),


External links

*
Visual motifs (essay) Theater of Drawing
{{DEFAULTSORT:Motif (Visual Arts) Decorative arts Iconography