In a wide-ranging and richly illustrated book, the authors begin by tracing the ways ornament has been used over the last five centuries, the rules of decorum and etiquette associated with it, and the social, moral and spiritual values it has represented. They examine how architecture set the agenda for ornament in the Renaissance, and how printed images carried a common vocabulary of ornament throughout the Western world.

They survey the personal side of ornament, both in dress and in the domestic interior - a private expression of the self and a public statement of social and cultural status. They look at ornament in the public domain - from the lavish decoration and symbolism of a town pageant to the logos of today's corporate industry - and show how the ever-evolving role of ornament is to invent and embody the collective spirit of communities at work and at leisure.

They conclude by discussing how the Western tradition of ornament has responded to and absorbed 'exotic' African and Asian motifs: Moresque motifs of the Near East and such familiar designs as the 'Paisley' and Willow" patterns.