Lijsten en ronde ornamenten 1798 - 1839

This print of borders and round ornaments was created by Gottfried Engelmann. Notice the repeated spiral motif, a form that echoes the very fabric of life. In antiquity, it was associated with the labyrinth, a symbol of life’s winding journey. See how it proliferates here, evoking not just a physical path but a psychological one, resonating with the unconscious mind's meanderings. These palmette shapes – stylized like the fan of a palm leaf – appear across ancient Egyptian and Greek art. Initially linked to concepts of life and regeneration, they later morphed into heraldic emblems. Consider these forms not merely as decorative flourishes, but as carriers of memory. How each twist, curl, and leaf carries echoes of past civilizations, stirring something deep within us. The image stirs our collective past.