Excerpted from Patternalia: An Unconventional History of Polka Dots, Stripes, Plaid, Camouflage, & Other Graphic Patterns by Jude Stewart. Out now from Bloomsbury. What form of life is paisley ...

A set of ‘rimonim’ or scepters for a Torah scroll in the shape of a ‘buteh,’ the Persian term for paisley, from Afghanistan, 1880, at ‘Paisley, A Princely Pattern,’ exhibited at ...