Please take a look at the images of this Estonian medieval Karja article. https://et.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karja_kirik Karja Church in the western part of Estonia on the island of Saaremaa was built in the last quarter of the 13th century or the beginning of the 14th century. An ornamental horse chestnut can be seen there. Please, is there any other known use of horse chestnut leaf in ornamentals elsewhere? It has been suggested that this leaf image may be a stylized grape leaf or perhaps a hop?
Heldur Sander This is grape leaves. The Grape Vine is an allegory given by Jesus in the New Testament.
John 15:
I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.
Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
John 15 chapter — Bible — King James Bible: https://bible.by/kjv/43/15/"
Dear Alex Ignatov, I am very grateful to you. Apparently it is so, I consulted two ladies outside of Estonia. They were also of the same mind, although I cringed. Yes, historical records show that horce chestnut cultivation began in Constantinople in the second half of the 16th century. Therefore, it cannot be a horse chestnut, but the shape of the leaf was misleading. After all, this is a modified image of the artist. Since the builders of Karja Church were from Germany and Gothland, there was also the opinion that perhaps the image of hops was made by an artist. Best, Heldur Sander
Heldur Sander If you look at the bottom line of the leaves ornament you can clearly see the vine. Fruits were modified indeed, but as you said the builders of Karja Church were from Germany and Gothland (some said from Holland too), so they probably looked at other pictures of grapes for example, not on real plants.
Regards
Alex
True the leaf of a horse chestnut is ornamental because its leaf is palmate with 5 to 9 leaflets attached together. It gives the leaf of the plant a beautiful ornamentation.
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