Koetsu utaibon hyakuban
Koetsu utaibon hyakuban is a Japanese book of utaibon, song texts for noh performance, from about 1600, held by the Smithsonian Libraries. The picture is the printed cover, a pale grey paper with a white-printed scroll and chrysanthemum pattern around a central medallion of a phoenix or bird, with a label of Japanese calligraphy at the left edge. A designer might take from it the idea of a repeating scrolling floral border framing a single roundel as a classic decorative layout.
