Romano-British interlace

George Bain recognised the importance of the single, continuous strand in borders and panels. He works out how to create this effect by applying ‘odd number’ spacing to just one side of a design. Here he shows two examples. Both are based on an interlace border on a mosaic at the Chedworth Roman villa, Gloucestershire.

Bain felt that Pictish artists and designers used the continuous line to symbolise eternity. This is a fundamental belief in Christian and other religions. In this drawing he links the interlaced line with pre-Christian philosophies. Here, he quotes the classical writers Virgil and Pythagoras to support his theory.