Ornament imitating the appearance of ribbon, often in the form of a tied bow, with long streamer ends, used on furniture, metalwork, ceramics and textiles. Ribbons appeared in Roman decoration (e.g. wall decoration, Domus Aurea of emperor Nero, Rome, AD 64-8), often combined with wreaths of laurel, fruit, flowers and animal heads. Anglo-Saxon jewellery incorporated a swirling-ribbon decoration in such pieces as a 7th-century belt buckle and the 8th-century Witham Pins (both London, BM). Ribbon motifs were an important element of Rococo and Neo-classical ornament during the 18th century, when they were depicted as bows, or twisted together in running bands with roses or leaves, or binding such devices as vases, lyres, trophies and stalks of wheat, the trailing ribbon ends often linking the design elements together.

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