Key pattern is the generic term for an interlocking geometric motif made from straight lines or bars that intersect to form rectilinearspiral shapes.[1][2][3] According to Allen and Anderson, the negative space between the lines or bars of a key pattern “resemb[es] the L- or T-shaped slots in an ordinary key to allow it to pass the wards of the lock.”[4]
Key patterns have been discovered and used in ornamentation by a number of global cultures in human history, and are thought to largely have been designed independently of each other.[4][5] The earliest examples of key patterns are seen in textile ornaments from Mezin, Ukraine, dated to approximately 23,000 B.C.[5][6][7] Key patterns were also common in textile and ceramic ornamentation during the Neolithic period, with examples found among archeological discoveries in present-day Fiji, Peru, Mexico, Moldova, Romania, Hungary, Yugoslavia, and Greece,[4][5][6][7] as well as in pre-Christian Celtic art.[1][2][3] The oldest known pair of pants, wool trousers found in a grave dated to approximately 1038-926 B.C. in present-day western China, have a decorative band of key patterns woven into them.[8] In addition, extant examples of early medievalInsular art, such as stone decorations and illuminated manuscripts, as well as Japanese, Chinese, and Islamicdecorative arts from different periods, feature key patterns.[3][4][9][10]
A wool rug ca.1900-1920 from the Navajo people in the Early Crystal style, with key patterns forming the outer border.
Vintage Japanese designs of key patterns from The Practical Decorator and Ornamentist by G.A & M.A. Audsley
Vintage Japanese border designs using key patterns from The Practical Decorator and Ornamentist by G.A & M.A. Audsley
Antique Greek border designs of key patterns and other ornaments from The Practical Decorator and Ornamentist by G.A & M.A. Audsley
Variations in decorative key patterns from the Handbook of Ornament; A Grammar of Art, Industrial and Architectural Designing in All Its Branches, for Practical as well as Theoretical Use (1900)
Cushion Cover, 17th century. Kongo textiles, Kongo peoples; The Kingdom of Kongo. Ethnographic Museum, Stockholm.