The flame palmette is a motif in decorative art which, in its most characteristic expression, resembles the fan-shaped leaves of a palm tree. Flame palmettes are different from regular palmettes in that, traditionally palmettes tended to have sharply splaying leaves. From the 4th century BCE however, the end of the leaves tend to turn in, forming what is called the "flame palmette" design.[1]
The first appearance of flame palmettes seem to occur with the stand-alone floral akroteria of the Parthenon (447–432 BCE),[2] and slightly later at the Temple of Athena Nike.[3] Flame palmettes were then introduced into friezes of floral motifs in replacement of the regular palmette. According to John Boardman, although lotus friezes or palmette friezes were known in Mesopotamia centuries before, the unnatural combination of various botanical elements which have no relationship in the wild, such as the palmette, the lotus, and sometimes rosette flowers, is a purely Greek innovation, which was then adopted on a very broad geographical scale.[4] However, Ashurbanipal's threshold from Dur Sharrugin predates all Greek examples of the flame palmette.
In Asia Minor, some of the earliest designs of flaming palmettes can be found in the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, dated to 350 BCE. They are also extensively used at the 3rd century BCE Ionic Temple of Didyma.
| Flame palmettes in Asia Minor | ||||||
| Fragment of frieze with flame palmette design, Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, 350 BCE.File:Flaming palmette design at Didyma.jpg | "Flame palmette" design (center) at Didyma, 3rd century BCE.File:Anta capital Apollo of the Branchidae Miletus.jpg | Anta capital with flame palmette, Didyma, Miletus.File:Capital at the Temple of Apollo Didyma.jpg | Anta capital in Didyma.Priene Temenos capital fragment in Antiquities of Ionia Vol IV.jpg | Capital in Priene. |
The flame palmette design that was adopted in Hellenistic architecture and became very popular on a wide geographical scale, especially following the conquests of Alexander the Great. In the Greco-Bactrian city of Ai-Khanoum, founded circa 280 BCE, the antefixae display a flame palmette design, as do floral mosaics.
This is the design that was adopted by India in the 3rd century BCE for some of its sculptural friezes, such as on the abaci of the Pillars of Ashoka, or the central design of the Pataliputra capital, probably through the Seleucid Empire or Hellenistic cities such as Ai-Khanoum.[5]
| Flame palmettes in India | ||||||||||
| The Pataliputra capital, with a central and a lateral "flame palmette" design, 3rd century BCE.File:Diamond throne frieze detail.jpg | Diamond throne frieze detail, Bodh Gaya, c.250 BCE.File:Rampurva bull capital detail.jpg | "Flame palmettes" around a lotus, on the Rampurva bull capital, India, 3rd century BCEFile:Flame palmette on top of Bharhut east gateway.jpg | Flame palmette on top of Bharhut east gateway.File:Bharhut pillar capital.jpg | Bharhut pillar capital with central flame palmette, circa 100 BCE.File:MathuraLionCapital.JPG | The Mathura lion capital with a central flame palmette. 1st century BCE.File:Sunga flame palmette 1st century BCE Bodh Gaya.jpg | Sunga flame palmette, 1st century BCE, Bodh Gaya.File:Kushan flame palmette.jpg | Kushan flame palmette.File:Pillaster fragment Mathura 2nd century CE.jpg | Pillaster, Mathura, 2nd century CE. |