Ornament as Argument

Anna Bücheler's dissertation, Ornament as Argument: Textile Imagery and Textile Metaphor in Medieval German Manuscripts explores notions of ornamentation and issues of materiality in early and high medieval manuscript illumination (800-1200). Focusing on ornament that evokes the weave patterns of Byzantine and Islamic silk, this study argues that - in specific contexts - ornament has meaning and serves functions that go beyond mere decoration. Reading so-called textile pages against the manuscript context in which they appear and bringing them together with metaphoric and exegetical notions of the veil, textile ornament emerges as a visual argument. The aim of this study is to contribute to a better understanding of an "iconology of the textile" in medieval art and illuminate the functions and meaning of non-figurative ornament.