Plate No. 036 · pattern

Harlequin

Harlequin is a pattern of repeating diamonds, point to point, in two or more alternating colors. It descends from the costume of Arlecchino in the commedia dell'arte: what began as a poor servant's patched clothes was stylized by the seventeenth century into the regular diamond suit that still says carnival, circus, and masquerade. As a textile and decorating pattern it is the diamond counterpart of the checkerboard, set on point so the eye reads movement instead of grid.