However, looking back at the calligraphy, I'm beginning to see in the 3-D shading the suggestions of ribbons of ink which could indeed be imagined as the spiraled irons of a damascus barrel...
I do not believe the rugs and the barrels are on a 1-1 level regarding the patterns. It is not like over laying fingerprints. I do think that a culture perceives objects and patterns and dismisses others. I think that it is worth looking at calligraphy, rugs, wrought iron, etc to better understand why a culture found one thing acceptable, another beautiful and yet another trash. I think we also learn about ourselves. Perhaps, when we look at a damascus barrel, we are not seeing it the same way the maker intended. Yet we do find it some how pleasing to eye. Certainly some of the names if not most were descriptive. Yet I fail to see the bunting or flags in the damascus.
There is the story of conquistador ships sailing into a bay. The local people looked at the ships and could not see them. The conquistadors came ashore and the local people saw them. When the Spanish pointed to their sailing ships to explain how they had arrived, suddenly the ships could be seen by every one. Such a thing was just not possible to their minds at first.
In India, sitar music, it is possible to have a beat of 102 beats per measure. Most western listeners can not hear those beats.
Pete
