Arabesque

Arabesque is an artistic decoration. It uses "surface decorations based on... interlacing foliage, tendrils" or plain lines.^[1] Another definition is "Foliate ornament, used in the Islamic world, typically using leaves... combined with spiralling stems".^[2]

Stone relief with arabesques in the Umayyad Mosque, Damascus

Border decoration to an Ottoman miniature, early 16th century

For other uses, see Arabesque (disambiguation).

Arabesques are usually of a single design which can be 'tiled' or repeated as many times as desired.^[3]

The term "arabesque" is used as a technical term by art historians for decoration in Islamic art from about the 9th century onwards, and European decorative art from the Renaissance onwards. Note that Islamic geometric patterns are a different style from arabesques.