Moresque is an obsolete alternative term to "
Moorish" in English, and in the arts has some specific meanings. By itself the word is used of forms found in ornament and decoration in the
applied arts in Europe. Often it is a
synonym for
arabesque or
interlace patterns in the
Mannerist and
Northern Mannerist styles of the 16th century, derived from Islamic ornament. It was defined in 1611 by
Randle Cotgrave's
A Dictionarie of the French and English Tongues as: "a rude or anticke painting, or carving, wherin the feet and tayles of beasts, &c, are intermingled with, or made to resemble, a kind of wild leaves, &c." The word is also used for such a figure, starting off as a human or animal, but terminating as part of a decorative scheme of foliage or geometric
strapwork.