Meander (art): Difference between revisions

A '''meander''' or '''meandros'''<ref>The Greek term ''maíandros'' and its Latinized variant ''meandros'' are not very common outside of archaeological contexts.</ref> ({{lang-el|Μαίανδρος}}) is a decorative border constructed from a continuous line, shaped into a repeated [[Motif (visual arts)|motif]]. Among some Italians, these patterns are known as "Greek Lines". Such a design may also be called the '''Greek fret''' or '''[[Key pattern|Greek key]]''' design, although these terms are modern designations; even though thethis decorative motif appears thousands of years before that culture, thousands of miles away from Greece, and among cultures that are continents away from it. Usually the term is used for motifs with straight lines and right angles and the many versions with rounded shapes are called [[scroll (art)|running scrolls]] or, following the etymological origin of the term, may be identified as water wave motifs.

Meanders are common decorative elements in [[Greek art|Greek]] and [[Roman art]]. In [[ancient Greece]] they appear in many [[Frieze|architectural friezes]], and in bands on the [[pottery of ancient Greece]] from the [[Geometric Periodperiod]] onward. The design is common to the present-day in classicizing architecture,<!-- Too silly? Although Greek eateries will almost certainly have Greek Keys decorating walls, menus ''et cetera'', both Mexican and Chinese food menus and place mats frequently incorporate this style of fret. --> and is adopted frequently as a decorative motif for borders for many modern printed materials.

The meander is a fundamental design motif in regions far from a Hellenic orbit: labyrinthine meanders ("thunder" pattern <ref>See J. E. L., description of a Late Chou ''hou'' at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, in "A Chinese Bronze", ''Bulletin of the Museum of Fine Arts'' '''27''' (August 1929:48).</ref>) appear in bands and as infill on [[Shang dynasty|Shang bronze]]s ({{circa|1600 BC|1045 BC}}), and many traditional buildings in and around [[China]] still bear geometric designs almost identical to meanders. Although space-filling curves have a long history in China in motifs more than 2,000 years earlier, extending back to [[Zhukaigou Culture]] ({{circa|2000 BC|1400 BC}}) and [[Xiajiadian Culture]] ({{circa|2200 BC|1600 BC}} and {{circa|1000 BC|600 BC}}), frequently there is speculation that meanders of Greek origin may have come to China during the time of the [[Han Dynastydynasty]] ({{circa|202 BC}}) by way of trade with the [[Greco-Bactrian Kingdom]]. A meander motif also appears in prehistoric Mayan design motifs in the western hemisphere, centuries before any European contacts.

[[Category:GreekCulture cultureof Greece]]