Origin and Development of Form and Ornament in Ceramic Art. | Page 7

we have four of the noded apexes placed about the
rim of the vessel, as shown in Fig. 476a, the conception being that of
four conch shells united in one vessel, the bases being turned inward
and the apexes outward. Now it is only necessary to suppose the
addition of the spiral lines, always associated with the nodes, to have
the result shown in b, and by a still higher degree of convention we
have the classic scroll ornament given in c. Of course, no such result as
this could come about adventitiously, as successful combination calls
for the exercise of judgment and taste; but the initiatory steps could be
taken--the motive could enter art--without the conscious supervision of
the human agent.
+SUGGESTIONS BY FEATURES OF ARTIFICIAL OBJECTS.+

[Illustration: FIG. 477.--Ornament derived through the modification of
handles.]
Functional features.--Functional features of art products liable to
influence ornament comprise handles, legs, feet, rims, bands, and other
peculiarities of shape originating in utility. Handles, for instance, may
have been indigenous to a number of arts; they are coeval and
coextensive with culture. The first load, weapon, or vessel transported
by man may have been suspended by a vine or filament. Such arts as
have fallen heir to handles have used them according to the capacities
of the material employed. Of all the materials stone is probably the
least suited to their successful use, while clay utilizes them in its own
peculiar way, giving to them a great variety of expression. They are
copied in clay from various models, but owing to the inadequate
capacities of the material, often lose their function and degenerate into
mere ornaments, which are modified as such to please the potter's fancy.
Thus, for example, the series of handles placed about the neck of the
vessel become, by modification in frequent copying, a mere band of
ornamental figures in relief, or even finally in engraved, punctured, or
painted lines, in the manner suggested in Fig. 477. Legs, pedestals,
spouts, and other features may in a like manner give rise to decoration.
[Illustration: a.--Coiled fillet of clay. b.--Double coil. FIG. 478.--Scroll
derived from coil of clay.]
Constructional features.-Features of vessels resulting from construction
are infinitely varied and often highly suggestive of decoration.
Constructional peculiarities of the clay utensils themselves are
especially worthy of notice, and on account of their actual presence in
the art itself are more likely to be utilized or copied for ceramic
ornament than those of other materials. The coil, so universally
employed in construction, has had a decided influence upon the
ceramic decoration of certain peoples, as I have shown in a paper on
ancient Pueblo art. From it we have not only a great variety of surface
ornamentation produced by simple treatment of the coil in place, but
probably many forms suggested by the use of the coil in vessel building,
as, for instance, the spiral formed in beginning the base of a coiled

vessel, Fig. 478 a, from which the double scroll b, as a separate feature,
could readily be derived, and finally the chain of scrolls so often seen
in border and zone decoration. This familiarity with the use of fillets or
ropes of clay would also lead to a great variety of applied ornament,
examples of which, from Pueblo art, are given in Fig. 479. The sinuous
forms assumed by a rope of clay so employed would readily suggest to
the Indian the form of the serpent and the means of representing it, and
might thus lead to the introduction of this much revered creature into
art.
[Illustration: FIG. 479.--Ornamental use of fillets.]
Of the various classes of utensils associated closely with the ceramic art,
there are none so characteristically marked by constructional features as
nets and wicker baskets. The twisting, interlacing, knotting, and
stitching of filaments give relieved figures that by contact in
manufacture impress themselves upon the plastic clay. Such
impressions come in time to be regarded as pleasing features, and when
free-hand methods of reproducing are finally acquired they and their
derivatives become essentials of decoration. At a later stage these
characters of basketry influence ceramic decoration in a somewhat
different way. By the use of variously-colored fillets the woven surface
displays figures in color corresponding to those in relief and varying
with every new combination. Many striking patterns are thus produced,
and the potter who has learned to decorate his wares by the stylus or
brush reproduces these patterns by free-hand methods. We find pottery
in all countries ornamented with patterns, painted, incised, stamped,
and relieved, certainly derived from this source. So well is this fact
known that I need hardly go into details.
In the higher stages of art the constructional characters of architecture
give rise to many notions of decoration which afterwards descend to
other arts, taking