Motif

Plant motif, Taj Mahal

In art, a motif (pronunciation)  is a repeated pattern, image, or theme. Paisley designs are called motifs. Many designs in mosques in Islamic culture are motifs. Two major Roman motifs are egg and tongue, and ball and reel.

Motifs may have iconographic significance within a work of art.

Gallery

• 
  Ajanta Cave ceiling motif before entrance, India
• 
  Wallpaper group
• 
  Illustration from The Grammar of Ornament (1856)