Daniel Sheets Dye
Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1949 (one volume); originally published 1937, English (in 2 volumes)
Nonfiction, Graphic Design; Design, General
ISBN: 9789579482400

From the Publisher (1974 Dover reprint of the 1949 edition). The definitive work on an area of Chinese design, long recognized as an important folk art. 1,239 designs are shown, with titles, commentaries, and other information: 265 groups of design based on parallelogram, octagon, hexagon, single focus frames, wedge-lock, parallel waves, swastikas, U-scroll, and more.

The conventions used to construct traditional Chinese ice-ray lattice designs are investigated. Parametric shape grammars are defined for the recursive generation of these patterns. In his classic monograph, A Grammar of Chinese Lattice, Daniel Sheets Dye sets out. a catalogue of traditional Chinese lattices constructed between 1000 BC and 1900 AD. "Most of these ornamental and grille designs have a clearly observable or regular structure that allows for their straightforward generation by simple shape grammars. The group of Chinese lattices called ice-ray, however, do not exhibit this periodicity or regularity.

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Ed Ng

Describes the wisdom behind the application of Chinese lattices—an intriguing read.

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