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CHAPTER V.-PLATES 23, 24, 25.
POMPEIAN ORNAMENT.
PLATE XXIII.
Collection of Borders from different Houses in I'ompeii.-ZAHN'S Pompeii.
PLATE XXIV.
Various Pilasters and Friezes from different Houses in Pompeii.-ZAHN'S Pompeii.
PLATE XXV.
Collection of Mosaics from Pompeii and the Museum at Naples.-From the Author's
Sketches.
THE ornament of Pompeii has been so ably and so fully illustrated in Zahn's
magnificent work, that
we have thought it only necessary for this series to borrow from him the
materials for two plates, to
illustrate the two distinct styles of ornament which prevail in the decorations
of the edifices of Pompeii.
The first (Plate XXIII.) are evidently of Greek origin, composed of conventional
ornaments in flat tints,
either painted dark on a light ground, or light on a dark ground, but without
shade or any attempt
at relief; the second (Plate XXIV.) are more Roman in character, based upon
the acanthus scroll,
and interwoven with ornament in direct imitation of Nature.
We refer the reader to Zahn's work* for a full appreciation of the system
of ornamentation in
use at Pompeii.   An examination of this work will show that this system
 was carried to the very
limit of caprice, and that almost any theory of colouring and decoration
could be supported by authority
from Pompeii.
The general arrangement of the decoration on the walls of the interior of
a Pompeian house
* Les plus Beaux Ornemens et les Tableaux les plus Remarquables de Pompeii,
d 'Herculanum, et de Stabiae, ec., par Guillaume Zahn.
Berlin, 1828.
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