Arabesque

Kind of ornament not derived, as the name indicates, from Saracenic art; composed of imitations or con vent i on a liz a tions both of natural and artifi cial objects, having nothing in common with Arabian ornament except a symmetrical arrangement. The earliest examples are those exhumed at Pompeii. It is referred to dis paragingly by Vitruvius and Pliny. Grotesque ornamentation is found in early Christian and in Byzantine art; its revival dates from the 15th century in Italy, when it probably came to be known as arabesque, from a confusion of it with Saracenic decoration.