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A STUDY OF THE TEXTILE ARTIN ITS RELATION TO THEDEVELOPMENT OF FORM AND ORNAMENT

BY

WILLIAM H. HOLMES. 

Sixth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnologyto the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1884-'85, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1888, pages 189-252

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CONTENTS. 

 PageIntroduction. 195 Form in textile art. 196 Relations of form to ornament. 201 Color in textile art. 201

Textile ornament. 202 Development of a geometric system within the art. 202 Introduction. 202 Relief phenomena. 203 Ordinary features. 203 Reticulated work. 210 Superconstructive features. 211 Color phenomena. 215 Ordinary features. 215 Non-essential constructive features. 226 Superconstructive features. 228 Adventitious features. 231 Geometricity imposed upon adopted elements. 232 Extension of textile ornament to other forms of art. 244

ILLUSTRATIONS. 

FIG. Page. 286. Mat or tray with esthetic attributes of form 197287. Tray having decided esthetic attributes of form 198288. Pyriform water vessel 198289. Basket with esthetic characters of form 199290. Basket of eccentric form 200291. Character of surface in the simplest form of weaving 204292. Surface produced by impacting 204293. Surface produced by use of wide fillets 204294. Basket with ribbed surface 205295. Bottle showing obliquely ribbed surface 205296. Tray showing radial ribs 205297. Combination giving herring bone effect 206298. Combination giving triangular figures 206299. Peruvian work basket 206300. Basket of Seminole workmanship 207301. Surface effect produced in open twined combination 207302. Surface effect produced in open twined combination 207303. Surface effect produced by impacting in twined combination 208304. Surface effect produced by impacting the web strands in twined combination 208305. Surface effect produced by crossing the web series in open twined work 208306. Tray with open mesh, twined combination 208307. Conical basket, twined combination 209308. Example of primitive reticulated weaving 210309. Simple form of reticulation 211310. Reticulated pattern in cotton cloth 211311. Peruvian embroidery 213312. Basket with pendent ornaments 213313. Basket with pendent ornaments 213314. Tasseled Peruvian mantle 214315. Pattern produced by interlacing strands of different colors 216316. Pattern produced by interlacing strands of different colors 216317. Pattern produced by interlacing strands of different colors 216318. Pattern produced by interlacing strands of different colors 217319. Base of coiled basket 218320. Coiled basket with geometric ornament 218321. Coiled basket with geometric ornament 219322. Coiled basket with geometric ornament 220323. Coiled basket with geometric ornament 220324. Coiled basket with geometric ornament 221325. Coiled basket with geometric ornament 223326. Coiled tray with geometric ornament 224327. Coiled tray with geometric ornament 225328. Tray with geometric ornament 225329. Tray with geometric ornament 226330. Ornament produced by wrapping the strands 227331. Ornament produced by fixing strands to the surface of the fabric 227332. Basket with feather ornamentation 227333. Basket with feather ornamentation 227334. Piece of cloth showing use of supplementary warp and woof 228335. Piece of cloth showing use of supplementary warp and woof 228336. Example of grass embroidery 230337. Example of feather embroidery 231338. Figures from the Penn wampum belt 233339. Figures from a California Indian basket 234340. California Indian basket 234341. Figures from a Peruvian basket 235342. Figure from a piece of Peruvian gobelins 236343. Figures from a Peruvian vase 237344. Figure from a circular basket 238345. Figure of a bird from a Zuņi shield 239346. Figure of a bird woven in a tray 240347. Figure of a bird woven in a basket 241348. Figures embroidered on a cotton net by the ancient Peruvians 242349. Figures of birds embroidered by the ancient Peruvians 243350. Conventional design painted upon cotton cloth 243351. Herring bone and checker patterns produced in weaving 246352. Herring bone and checker patterns engraved in clay 246353. Earthen vase with textile ornament 247354. Example of textile ornament painted upon pottery 248355. Textile pattern transferred to pottery through costume 248356. Ceremonial adz with carved ornament of textile character 250357. Figures upon a tapa stamp 251358. Design in stucco exhibiting textile characters 251

TEXTILE ART IN ITS RELATION TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF FORM AND ORNAMENT. 

BY WILLIAM H. HOLMES. 

INTRODUCTION. 

The textile art is one of the most ancient known, dating back to thevery inception of culture. In primitive times it occupied a widefield, embracing the stems of numerous branches of industry nowexpressed in other materials or relegated to distinct systems ofconstruction. Accompanying the gradual narrowing of its sphere therewas a steady development with the general increase of intelligence andskill so that with the cultured nations of to-day it takes animportant, though unobtrusive, place in the hierarchy of the arts. 

Woven fabrics include all those products of art in which the elementsor parts employed in construction are largely filamental and arecombined by methods conditioned chiefly by their flexibility. Theprocesses employed are known by such terms as interlacing, plaiting, netting, weaving, sewing, and embroidering. 

The materials used at first are chiefly filiform vegetal growths, suchas twigs, leaves, roots, and grasses, but later on filiform and thenfibrous elements from all the kingdoms of nature, as well as numerousartificial preparations, are freely used. These are employed in thesingle, doubled, doubled and twisted, and plaited conditions, and arecombined by the hands alone, by the hands assisted by simple devices, by hand looms, and finally in civilization by machine looms. 

The products are, first, individual structures or articles, such asshelters, baskets, nets, and garments, or integral parts of these;and, second, "piece" goods, such as are not adapted to use until theyare cut and fitted. In earlier stages of art we have to deal almostexclusively with the former class, as the tailor and the housefurnisher are evolved with civilization. 

In their bearing upon art these products are to be studied chieflywith reference to three grand divisions of phenomena, the first ofwhich I shall denominate _constructive_, the second _functional_, andthe third _esthetic_. The last class, with which this paper has almostexclusively to deal, is composed mainly of what may be called thesuperconstructive and superfunctional features of the art and includesthree subdivisions of phenomena, connected respectively with (1) form, (2) color, and (3) design. Esthetic features of form are, in originand manifestation, related to both function and construction; colorand design, to construction mainly. In the following study separatesections are given to each of these topics. 

It is fortunate perhaps that in this work I am restricted to theproducts of rather primitive stages of culture, as I have thus to dealwith a limited number of uses, simple processes, and simple shapes. Inthe advanced stages of art we encounter complex phenomena, processes, and conditions, the accumulation of ages, through which no broad lightcan fall upon the field of vision. 

In America there is a vast body of primitive, indigenous art having noparallel in the world. Uncontaminated by contact with the complexconditions of civilized art, it offers the best possible facilitiesfor the study of the fundamental principles of esthetic development. 

The laws of evolution correspond closely in all art, and, if oncerightly interpreted in the incipient stage of a single, homogeneousculture, are traceable with comparative ease through all thesucceeding stages of civilization. 

FORM IN TEXTILE ART. 

Form in the textile art, as in all other useful arts, isfundamentally, although not exclusively, the resultant or expressionof function, but at the same time it is further than in other shapingarts from expressing the whole of function. Such is the pliability ofa large portion of textile products--as, for example, nets, garments, and hangings--that the shapes assumed are variable, and, therefore, when not distended or for some purpose folded or draped, the articlesare without esthetic value or interest. The more rigid objects, incommon with the individuals of other useful arts, while their shapestill accords with their functional office, exhibit attributes of formgenerally recognized as pleasing to the mind, which are expressed bythe terms grace, elegance, symmetry, and the like. Such attributes arenot separable from functional attributes, but originate and existconjointly with them. 

In addition to these features of form we observe others of a moredecidedly superfunctional character, added manifestly for the purposeof enhancing the appearance. 

In very primitive times when a utensil is produced functional ideaspredominate, and there is, perhaps, so far as its artificialcharacters are concerned, a minimum of comeliness. But as the agespass by essential features are refined and elements of beauty areadded and emphasized. In riper culture the growing pressure ofesthetic desire leads to the addition of many superficialmodifications whose chief office is to please the fancy. In periods ofdeadened sensibility or even through the incompetence of individualartists in any period, such features may be ill chosen anderroneously applied, interfering with construction and use, and thusviolating well founded and generally accepted canons of taste. Inrespect to primitive works we may distinguish four steps in theacquisition of esthetic features of form, three of which are normal, the fourth abnormal: First, we have that in which functionalcharacters alone are considered, any element of beauty, whether due tothe artist's hand or to the accidents of material, construction, ormodel, being purely adventitious; second, that in which the necessaryfeatures of the utensil appear to have experienced the supervision oftaste, edges being rounded, curves refined, and symmetry perfected;third, that in which the functionally perfect object, just described, undergoes further variations of contour, adding to variety, unity, &c. , thus enhancing beauty without interfering with serviceability;and, fourth, that in which, under abnormal influences, beauty issought at the sacrifice of functional and constructive perfection. 

[Illustration: FIG. 286. Mat or tray exhibiting a minimum of estheticattributes of form. Moki work--1/8. ]

The exact relations of the various classes of forces and phenomenapertaining to this theme may be more fully elucidated by the aid ofillustrations. Woven mats, in early use by many tribes of men andoriginating in the attempt to combine leaves, vines, and branches forpurposes of comfort, are flat because of function, the degree offlatness depending upon the size of filaments and mode of combination;and in outline they are irregular, square, round, or oval, as a resultof many causes and influences, embracing use, construction, material, models, &c. A close approach to symmetry, where not imposed by some ofthe above mentioned agencies, is probably due to esthetic tendencieson the part of the artist. The esthetic interest attaching to such ashape cannot be great, unless perhaps it be regarded, as allindividuals and classes may be regarded, in its possible relations topreceding, associated, and succeeding forms of art. The variedfeatures observed upon the surface, the colors and patterns (Fig. 286), pertain to design rather than to form and will receive attentionin the proper place. 

[Illustration: FIG. 287. Tray having decided esthetic attributes ofform. Obtained from the Apache--1/2. ]

In point of contour the basket tray shown in Fig. 287 has a somewhatmore decided claim upon esthetic attention than the preceding, as thecurves exhibited mark a step of progress in complexity and grace. Howmuch of this is due to intention and how much to technical perfectionmust remain in doubt. In work so perfect we are wont, howeverunwarrantably, to recognize the influence of taste. 

[Illustration: FIG. 288. Pyriform water vessel used by the PiuteIndians--1/8. ]

A third example--presented in Fig. 288--illustrates an advanced stagein the art of basketry and exhibits a highly specialized shape. Theforces and influences concerned in its evolution may be analyzed asfollows: A primal origin in function and a final adaptation to aspecial function, the carrying and storing of water; a contour full togive capacity, narrow above for safety, and pointed below that it maybe set in sand; curves kept within certain bounds by the limitationsof construction; and a goodly share of variety, symmetry, and grace, the result to a certain undetermined extent of the esthetic tendenciesof the artist's mind. In regard to the last point there is generallyin forms so simple an element of uncertainty; but many examples may befound in which there is positive evidence of the existence of a strongdesire on the part of the primitive basketmaker to enhance beauty ofform. It will be observed that the textile materials and constructiondo not lend themselves freely to minuteness in detail or to complexityof outline, especially in those small ways in which beauty is mostreadily expressed. 

Modifications of a decidedly esthetic character are generallysuggested to the primitive mind by some functional, constructive, oraccidental feature which may with ease be turned in the new direction. In the vessel presented in Fig. 289--the work of Alaskan Indians--themargin is varied by altering the relations of the three marginal turnsof the coil, producing a scalloped effect. This is without referenceto use, is uncalled for in construction, and hence is, in allprobability, the direct result of esthetic tendencies. Other and muchmore elaborate examples may be found in the basketry of almost allcountries. 

[Illustration: FIG. 289. Vessel with esthetic characters of form. Workof the Yakama--1/4. ]

In the pursuit of this class of enrichment there is occasionallynoticeable a tendency to overload the subject with extraneous details. This is not apt to occur, however, in the indigenous practice of anart, but comes more frequently from a loss of equilibrium or balancein motives or desires, caused by untoward exotic influence. When, through suggestions derived from contact with civilized art, thesavage undertakes to secure all the grace and complexity observed inthe works of more cultured peoples, he does so at the expense ofconstruction and adaptability to use. An example of such work ispresented in Fig. 290, a weak, useless, and wholly vicious piece ofbasketry. Other equally meretricious pieces represent goblets, bottles, and tea pots. They are the work of the Indians of thenorthwest coast and are executed in the neatest possible manner, bearing evidence of the existence of cultivated taste. 

[Illustration: FIG. 290. Basket made under foreign influence, construction and use being sacrificed to fancied beauty--1/3. ]

It appears from the preceding analyses that _form_ in this art is notsufficiently sensitive to receive impressions readily from thedelicate touch of esthetic fingers; besides, there are peculiardifficulties in the way of detecting traces of the presence andsupervision of taste. The inherent morphologic forces of the art arestrong and stubborn and tend to produce the precise classes of resultsthat we, at this stage of culture, are inclined to attribute toesthetic influence. If, in the making of a vessel, the demands of useare fully satisfied, if construction is perfect of its kind, ifmaterials are uniformly suitable, and if models are not absolutelybad, it follows that the result must necessarily possess in a highdegree those very attributes that all agree are pleasing to the eye. 

In a primitive water vessel function gives a full outline, as capacityis a prime consideration; convenience of use calls for a narrow neckand a conical base; construction and materials unite to impose certainlimitations to curves and their combinations, from which the artistcannot readily free himself. Models furnished by nature, as they areusually graceful, do not interfere with the preceding agencies, andall these forces united tend to give symmetry, grace, and the unitythat belongs to simplicity. Taste which is in a formative state canbut fall in with these tendencies of the art, and must be led bythem, and led in a measure corresponding to their persistency anduniversality. If the textile art had been the only one known to man, ideas of the esthetic in shape would have been in a great measureformed through that art. Natural forms would have had little to dowith it except through models furnished directly to and utilized bythe art, for the ideas of primitive men concentrate about that uponwhich their hands work and upon which their thoughts from necessitydwell with steady attention from generation to generation. 

RELATIONS OF FORM TO ORNAMENT. 

It would seem that the esthetic tendencies of the mind, failing tofind satisfactory expression in shape, seized upon the non-essentialfeatures of the art--markings of the surface and color offilaments--creating a new field in which to labor and expending theirenergy upon ornament. 

Shape has some direct relations to ornament, and these relations maybe classified as follows:

First, the contour of the vessel controls its ornament to a largeextent, dictating the positions of design and setting its limits;figures are in stripes, zones, rays, circles, ovals, orrectangles--according, in no slight measure, to the character of thespaces afforded by details of contour. Secondly, it affects ornamentthrough the reproduction and repetition of features of form, such ashandles, for ornamental purposes. Thirdly, it is probable that shapeinfluences embellishment through the peculiar bias given by it to thetaste and judgment of men prior to or independent of the employment ofornament. 

COLOR IN TEXTILE ART. 

Color is one of the most constant factors in man's environment, and itis so strongly and persistently forced upon his attention, so usefulas a means of identification and distinction, that it necessarilyreceives a large share of consideration. It is probably one of theforemost objective agencies in the formation and development of theesthetic sense. 

The natural colors of textile materials are enormously varied and formone of the chief attractions of the products of the art. The greatinterest taken in color--the great importance attached to it--isattested by the very general use of dyes, by means of which additionalvariety and brilliancy of effect are secured. 

Color employed in the art is not related to use, excepting, perhaps, in symbolic and superstitious matters; nor is it of consequence inconstruction, although it derives importance from the manner in whichconstruction causes it to be manifested to the eye. It finds its chiefuse in the field of design, in making evident to the eye the figureswith which objects of art are embellished. 

Color is employed or applied in two distinct ways: it is woven orworked into the fabric by using colored filaments or parts, or it isadded to the surface of the completed object by means of pencils, brushes, and dies. Its employment in the latter manner is especiallyconvenient when complex ideographic or pictorial subjects are to beexecuted. 

TEXTILE ORNAMENT. 

DEVELOPMENT OF A GEOMETRIC SYSTEM OF DESIGN WITHIN THE ART. 

INTRODUCTION. 

Having made a brief study of form and color in the textile art, Ishall now present the great group or family of phenomena whoseexclusive office is that of enhancing beauty. It will be necessary, however, to present, besides those features of the art properlyexpressive of the esthetic culture of the race, all those phenomenathat, being present in the art without man's volition, tend to suggestdecorative conceptions and give shape to them. I shall show how thelatter class of features arise as a necessity of the art, how theygradually come into notice and are seized upon by the estheticfaculty, and how under its guidance they assist in the development ofa system of ornament of world wide application. 

For convenience of treatment esthetic phenomena may be classed as_relieved_ and _flat_. Figures or patterns of a relievo nature ariseduring construction as a result of the intersections and other morecomplex relations--the bindings--of the warp and woof or of insertedor applied elements. Flat or surface features are manifested in color, either in unison with or independent of the relieved details. Such isthe nature of the textile art that in its ordinary practice certaincombinations of both classes of features go on as a necessity of theart and wholly without reference to the desire of the artist or to theeffect of resultant patterns upon the eye. The character of suchfigures depends upon the kind of construction and upon the accidentalassociation of natural colors in construction. 

At some period of the practice of the art these peculiar, adventitioussurface characters began to attract attention and to be cherished forthe pleasure they gave; what were at first adventitious features nowtook on functions peculiar to themselves, for they were found togratify desires distinct from those cravings that arise directly fromphysical wants. 

It is not to be supposed for a moment that the inception of estheticnotions dates from this association of ideas of beauty with textilecharacters. Long before textile objects of a high class were made, ideas of an esthetic nature had been entertained by the mind, as, forexample, in connection with personal adornment. The skin had beenpainted, pendants placed about the neck, and bright feathers set inthe hair to enhance attractiveness, and it is not difficult toconceive of the transfer of such ideas from purely personalassociations to the embellishment of articles intimately associatedwith the person. No matter, however, what the period or manner of theassociation of such ideas with the textile art, that association maybe taken as the datum point in the development of a great system ofdecoration whose distinguishing characters are the result of thegeometric textile construction. 

In amplifying this subject I find it convenient to treat separatelythe two classes of decorative phenomena--the relieved and theflat--notwithstanding the fact that they are for the most partintimately associated and act together in the accomplishment of acommon end. 

RELIEF PHENOMENA. 

_Ordinary features. _--The relieved surface characters of fabricsresulting from construction and available for decoration are more orless distinctly perceptible to the eye and to the touch and aresusceptible of unlimited variation in detail and arrangement. Suchfeatures are familiar to all in the strongly marked ridges ofbasketry, and much more pleasingly so in the delicate figures ofdamasks, embroideries, and laces. So long as the figures produced areconfined exclusively to the necessary features of unembellishedconstruction, as is the case in very primitive work and in all plainwork, the resultant patterns are wholly geometric and by endlessrepetition of like parts extremely monotonous. 

In right angled weaving the figures combine in straight lines, whichrun parallel or cross at uniform distances and angles. In radiateweaving, as in basketry, the radial lines are crossed in an equallyformal manner by concentric lines. In other classes of combinationthere is an almost equal degree of geometricity. 

When, however, with the growth of intelligence and skill it is foundthat greater variety of effect can be secured by modifying theessential combinations of parts, and that, too, without interferingwith constructive perfection or with use, a new and wide field isopened for the developmental tendencies of textile decoration. 

Moreover, in addition to the facilities afforded by the necessaryelements of construction, there are many extraneous resources of whichthe textile decorator may freely avail himself. The character of theseis such that the results, however varied, harmonize thoroughly withindigenous textile forms. 

To make these points quite clear it will be necessary to analyzesomewhat closely the character and scope of textile combination and ofthe resultant and associated phenomena. 

We may distinguish two broad classes of constructive phenomena madeuse of in the expression of relieved enrichment. As indicated above, these are, first, essential or actual constructive features and, second, extra or superconstructive features. 

First, it is found that in the practice of primitive textile art avariety of methods of combination or bindings of the parts have beenevolved and utilized, and we observe that each of these--no matterwhat the material or what the size and character of the filamentalelements--gives rise to distinct classes of surface effects. Thus itappears that peoples who happen to discover and use like combinationsproduce kindred decorative results, while those employing unlikeconstructions achieve distinct classes of surface embellishment. Theseconstructive peculiarities have a pretty decided effect upon the styleof ornament, relieved or colored, and must be carefully considered inthe treatment of design; but it is found that each type of combinationhas a greatly varied capacity of expression, tending to obliteratesharp lines of demarkation between the groups of results. It sometimeseven happens that in distinct types of weaving almost identicalsurface effects are produced. 

It will not be necessary in this connection to present a full seriesof the fundamental bindings or orders of combination, as a few willsuffice to illustrate the principles involved and to make clear thebearing of this class of phenomena upon decoration. I choose, first, anumber of examples from the simplest type of weaving, that in whichthe web and the woof are merely interlaced, the filaments crossing atright angles or nearly so. In Fig. 291 we have the result exhibited ina plain open or reticulated fabric constructed from ordinary untwistedfillets, such as are employed in our splint and cane products. Fig. 292 illustrates the surface produced by crowding the horizontal seriesof the same fabric close together, so that the vertical series isentirely hidden. The surface here exhibits a succession of verticalribs, an effect totally distinct from that seen in the precedingexample. The third variety (Fig. 293) differs but slightly from thefirst. The fillets are wider and are set close together withoutcrowding, giving the surface a checkered appearance. 

[Illustration: FIG. 291. Surface relief in simplest form ofintersection. ]

[Illustration: FIG. 292. Surface relief produced by horizontal seriescrowded together. ]

[Illustration: FIG. 293. Surface relief produced by wide fillets setclose together. ]

The second variety of surface effect is that most frequently seen inthe basketry of our western tribes, as it results from the greatdegree of compactness necessary in vessels intended to containliquids, semiliquid foods, or pulverized substances. The generalsurface effect given by closely woven work is illustrated in Fig. 294, which represents a large wicker carrying basket obtained from the MokiIndians. In this instance the ridges, due to a heavy series ofradiating warp filaments, are seen in a vertical position. 

[Illustration: FIG. 294. Basket showing ribbed surface produced byimpacting the horizontal or concentric filaments. Moki work--1/8. ]

[Illustration: FIG. 295. Alternation of intersection, producingoblique or spiral ribs. Piute work--1/8. ]

[Illustration: FIG. 296. Radiating ribs as seen in flat work viewedfrom above. Moki work--1/4. ]

It will be observed, however, that the ridges do not necessarily takethe direction of the warp filaments, for, with a different alternationof the horizontal series--the woof--we get oblique ridges, as shown inthe partly finished bottle illustrated in Fig. 295. They are, however, not so pronounced as in the preceding case. The peculiareffect of radiate and concentric weaving upon the ribs is well shownin Fig. 296. 

By changes in the order of intersection, without changing the type ofcombination, we reach a series of results quite unlike the preceding;so distinct, indeed, that, abstracted from constructive relationships, there would be little suggestion of correlation. In the example givenin Fig. 297 the series of filaments interlace, not by passing over andunder alternate strands, as in the preceding set of examples, but byextending over and under a number of the opposing series at each stepand in such order as to give wide horizontal ridges ribbed diagonally. 

[Illustration: FIG. 297. Diagonal combination, giving herring boneeffect. ]

[Illustration: FIG. 298. Elaboration of diagonal combination, givingtriangular figures. ]

This example is from an ancient work basket obtained at Ancon, Peru, and shown in Fig. 299. The surface features are in strong relief, giving a pronounced herring bone effect. 

[Illustration: FIG. 299. Peruvian work basket of reeds, with stronglyrelieved ridges. ]

Slight changes in the succession of parts enable the workman toproduce a great variety of decorative patterns, an example of which isshown in Fig. 298. A good illustration is also seen in Fig. 286, andanother piece, said to be of Seminole workmanship, is given in Fig. 300. These and similar relieved results are fruitful sources ofprimitive decorative motives. They are employed not only within theart itself, but in many other arts less liberally supplied withsuggestions of embellishment. 

[Illustration: FIG. 300. Effects produced by varying the order ofintersection. Seminole work--1/8. ]

Taking a second type of combination, we have a family of resultantpatterns in the main distinguishable from the preceding. 

[Illustration: FIG. 301. Surface effect in open twined combination. ]

[Illustration: FIG. 302. Surface effect of twined, lattice combinationin basketry of the Clallam Indians of Washington Territory--1/8. ]

Fig. 301 illustrates the simplest form of what Dr. O. T. Mason hascalled the twined combination, a favorite one with many of our nativetribes. The strands of the woof series are arranged in twos and inweaving are twisted half around at each intersection, inclosing theopposing fillets. The resulting open work has much the appearance ofordinary netting, and when of pliable materials and distended orstrained over an earthen or gourd vessel the pattern exhibited isstrikingly suggestive of decoration. The result of this combinationupon a lattice foundation of rigid materials is well shown in thelarge basket presented in Fig. 302. Other variants of this type aregiven in the three succeeding figures. 

[Illustration: FIG. 303. Surface effect in impacted work of twinedcombination. ]

The result seen in Fig. 303 is obtained by impacting the horizontal ortwined series of threads. The surface is nearly identical with that ofthe closely impacted example of the preceding type (Fig. 292). Thepeculiarities are more marked when colors are used. When the doubledand twisted series of strands are placed far apart and the opposingseries are laid side by side a pleasing result is given, as shown inFig. 304 and in the body of the conical basket illustrated in Fig. 307. 

[Illustration: FIG. 304. Surface effect obtained by placing the warpstrands close together and the woof cables far apart. ]

[Illustration: FIG. 305. Surface effect obtained by crossing the warpseries in open twined work. ]

In Fig. 305 we have a peculiar diagonally crossed arrangement of theuntwisted series of filaments, giving a lattice work effect. 

[Illustration: FIG. 306. Decorative effects produced by variations inthe radiate or warp series in an open work tray. Klamath work--1/4. ]

Fig. 306 serves to show how readily this style of weaving lendsitself to the production of decorative modification, especially in thedirection of the concentric zonal arrangement so universal invessel-making arts. 

The examples given serve to indicate the unlimited decorativeresources possessed by the art without employing any but legitimateconstructive elements, and it will be seen that still wider resultscan be obtained by combining two or more varieties or styles ofbinding in the construction and the embellishment of a single objector in the same piece of fabric. A good, though very simple, illustration of this is shown in the tray or mat presented in Fig. 286. In this case a border, varying from the center portion inappearance, is obtained by changing one series of the filaments from amultiple to a single arrangement. 

[Illustration: FIG. 307. Conical basket of the Klamath Indians ofOregon, showing peculiar twined effect and an open work border--1/8. ]

The conical basket shown in Fig. 307 serves to illustrate the samepoint. In this case a rudely worked, though effective, border issecured by changing the angle of the upright series near the top andcombining them by plaiting, and in such a way as to leave a border ofopen work. 

Now the two types of construction, the interlaced and the twined, someprimitive phases of which have been reviewed and illustrated, as theyare carried forward in the technical progress of the art, exhibit manynew features of combination and resultant surface character, but theelaboration is in all cases along lines peculiar to these types ofweaving. 

Other types of combination of web and woof, all tapestry, and allbraiding, netting, knitting, crochet, and needle work exhibitcharacters peculiar to themselves, developing distinct groups ofrelieved results; yet all are analogous in principle to those alreadyillustrated and unite in carrying forward the same great geometricsystem of combination. 

_Reticulated work. _--A few paragraphs may be added here in regard toreticulated fabrics of all classes of combination, as they exhibitmore than usually interesting relievo phenomena and have a decidedbearing upon the growth of ornament. 

In all the primitive weaving with which we are acquainted definitereticulated patterns are produced by variations in the spacings andother relations of the warp and woof; and the same is true in all thehigher forms of the art. The production of reticulated work is theespecial function of netting, knitting, crocheting, and certainvarieties of needlework, and a great diversity of relieved results areproduced, no figure being too complex and no form too pronounced to beundertaken by ambitious workmen. 

In the following figures we have illustrations of the peculiar classof primitive experiments that, after the lapse of ages, lead up tomarvelous results, the highest of which may be found in the exquisitelaces of cultured peoples. The Americans had only taken the firststeps in this peculiar art, but the results are on this account ofespecial interest in the history of the art. 

An example of simple reticulated hand weaving is shown in Fig. 308. Itis the work of the mound builders and is taken from an impression uponan ancient piece of pottery obtained in Tennessee. 

[Illustration: FIG. 308. Incipient stage of reticulated ornament. Fabric of the mound builders. ]

Fig. 309 illustrates a bit of ancient Peruvian work executed on aframe or in a rude loom, a checker pattern being produced by arrangingthe warp and woof now close together and now wide apart. 

Open work of this class is sometimes completed by after processes, certain threads or filaments being drawn out or introduced, by whichmeans the figures are emphasized and varied. 

In Fig. 310 we have a second Peruvian example in which the woofthreads have been omitted for the space of an inch, and across thisinterval the loose warp has been plaited and drawn together, producinga lattice-like band. 

[Illustration: FIG. 309. Simple form of ornamental reticulation. Ancient Peruvian work. ]

[Illustration: FIG. 310. Reticulated pattern in cotton cloth. Work ofthe ancient Peruvians. ]

In a similar way four other bands of narrow open work are introduced, two above and two below the wide band. These are produced by leavingthe warp threads free for a short space and drawing alternate pairsacross each other and fixing them so by means of a woof thread, asshown in the cut. 

Examples of netting in which decorative features have been worked arefound among the textile products of many American tribes and occur aswell in several groups of ancient fabrics, but in most cases wheredesigns of importance or complexity are desired parts are introducedto facilitate the work. 

_Superconstructive features. _--These features, so important in thedecoration of fabrics, are the result of devices by which aconstruction already capable of fulfilling the duties imposed byfunction has added to it parts intended to enhance beauty and whichmay or may not be of advantage to the fabric. They constitute one ofthe most widely used and effective resources of the textiledecorator, and are added by sewing or stitching, inserting, drawing, cutting, applying, appending, &c. They add enormously to the capacityfor producing relievo effects and make it possible even to rendernatural forms in the round. Notwithstanding this fact--the mostimportant section of this class of features--embroidery is treated tobetter advantage under color phenomena, as color is very generallyassociated with the designs. 

[Illustration: FIG. 311. Open work design embroidered upon a net-likefabric. From a grave at Ancon, Peru. ]

One example of lace-like embroidery may be given in this place. It isprobably among the best examples of monochrome embroidery America hasproduced. In design and in method of realization it is identical withthe rich, colored embroideries of the ancient Peruvians, being workedupon a net foundation, as shown in Fig. 311. The broad band of figuresemploys bird forms in connection with running geometric designs, andstill more highly conventional bird forms are seen in the narrow band. 

Appended ornaments are not amenable to the geometric laws offabrication to the extent observed in other classes of ornament. Theyare, however, attached in ways consistent with the textile system, andare counted and spaced with great care, producing designs of a more orless pronounced geometric character. The work is a kind of embroidery, the parts employed being of the nature of pendants. 

These include numberless articles derived from nature and art. It willsuffice to present a few examples already at hand. 

[Illustration: FIG. 312. Basket with pendent buckskin strands tippedwith bits of tin. Apache Indians--1/8. ]

Fig. 312 illustrates a large, well made basket, the work of the ApacheIndians. It serves to indicate the method of employing tassels andclustered pendants, which in this case consist of buckskin stringstipped with conical bits of tin. The checker pattern is in color. 

[Illustration: FIG. 313. Basket with pendants of beads and bits ofshell, work of the northwest coast Indians. --1/4. ]

Fig. 313 illustrates the use of other varieties of pendants. A featherdecked basket made by the northwest coast Indians is embellished withpendent ornaments consisting of strings of beads tipped with bits ofbright shell. The importance of this class of work in higher forms oftextiles may be illustrated by an example from Peru. It is probablethat American art has produced few examples of tasseled work morewonderful than that of which a fragment is shown in Fig. 314. It is afringed mantle, three feet in length and nearly the same in depth, obtained from an ancient tomb. The body is made up of separately wovenbands, upon which disk-like and semilunar figures representing humanfaces are stitched, covering the surface in horizontal rows. To thecenter of these rosette-like parts clusters of tassels of varyingsizes are attached. The fringe, which is twenty inches deep, iscomposed entirely of long strings of tassels, the larger tasselssupporting clusters of smaller ones. There are upwards of threethousand tassels, the round heads of which are in many cases woven incolors, ridges, and nodes to represent the human features. The generalcolor of the garment, which is of fine, silky wool, is a rich crimson. The illustration can convey only a hint of the complexity and beautyof the original. 

[Illustration: FIG. 314. Tassel ornamentation from an ancient Peruvianmantle. ]

We have now seen how varied and how striking are the surfacecharacters of fabrics as expressed by the third dimension, byvariation from a flat, featureless surface, and how all, essential andornamental, are governed by the laws of geometric combination. Weshall now see how these are related to color phenomena. 

COLOR PHENOMENA. 

_Ordinary features. _--In describing the constructive characters offabrics and the attendant surface phenomena, I called attention to thefact that a greater part of the design manifested is enforced andsupplemented by color, which gives new meaning to every feature. Colorelements are present in the art from its very inception, and manysimple patterns appear as accidents of textile aggregation long beforethe weaver or the possessor recognizes them as pleasing to the eye. When, finally, they are so recognized and a desire for greaterelaboration springs up, the textile construction lends itself readilyto the new office and under the esthetic forces brings about wonderfulresults without interfering in the least with the technical perfectionof the articles embellished. But color is not confined to the mereemphasizing of figures already expressed in relief. It is capable ofadvancing alone into new fields, producing patterns and designscomplex in arrangement and varied in hue, and that, too, withoutaltering the simple, monotonous succession of relievo characters. 

In color, as in relieved design, each species of constructivecombination gives rise to more or less distinct groups of decorativeresults, which often become the distinguishing characteristics of thework of different peoples and the progenitors of long lines ofdistinctions in national decorative conceptions. 

In addition to this apparently limitless capacity for expression, lovers of textile illumination have the whole series of extraordinaryresources furnished by expedients not essential to ordinaryconstruction, the character and scope of which have been dwelt upon tosome extent in the preceding section. 

I have already spoken of color in a general way, as to its necessarypresence in art, its artificial application to fabrics and fabricmaterials, its symbolic characters, and its importance to estheticprogress. My object in this section is to indicate the part it takesin textile design, its methods of expression, the processes by whichit advances in elaboration, and the part it takes in all geometricdecoration. 

It will be necessary, in the first place, to examine briefly thenormal tendencies of color combination while still under the directdomination of constructive elaboration. In the way of illustration, let us take first a series of filaments, say in the natural color ofthe material, and pass through them in the simplest interlaced style asecond series having a distinct color. A very simple geometric patternis produced, as shown in Fig. 315. It is a sort of checker, anemphasized presentation of the relievo pattern shown in Fig. 291, thefigures running horizontally, vertically, and diagonally. Had thesefilaments been accidentally associated in construction, the resultsmight have been the same, but it is unnecessary to indicate in detailthe possibilities of adventitious color combinations. So far as theyexhibit system at all it is identical with the relievo elaboration. 

[Illustration: FIG. 315. Pattern produced by interlacing strands ofdifferent colors. ]

[Illustration: FIG. 316. Pattern produced by modifying the alternationof fillets. ]

[Illustration: FIG. 317. Isolated figures produced by modifying theorder of intersection. ]

Assuming that the idea of developing these figures into something moreelaborate and striking is already conceived, let us study theprocesses and tendencies of growth. A very slight degree of ingenuitywill enable the workman to vary the relation of the parts, producing asuccession of results such, perhaps, as indicated in Fig. 316. Inthis example we have rows of isolated squares in white which may beturned hither and thither at pleasure, within certain angles, but theyresult in nothing more than monotonous successions of squares. 

[Illustration: FIG. 318. Pattern produced by simple alternations oflight and dark fillets. Basketry of the Indians of British Guiana. ]

Additional facility of expression is obtained by employing darkstrands in the vertical series also, and large, isolated areas ofsolid color may be produced by changing the order of intersection, certain of the fillets being carried over two or more of the opposingseries and in contiguous spaces at one step, as seen in Fig. 317. Withthese elementary resources the weaver has very considerable powers ofexpression, as will be seen in Fig. 318, which is taken from a basketmade by South American Indians, and in Fig. 341, where human figuresare delineated. The patterns in such cases are all rigidly geometricand exhibit stepped outlines of a pronounced kind. With impacting andincreased refinement of fillets the stepped character is in aconsiderable measure lost sight of and realistic, graphicrepresentation is to a greater extent within the workman's reach. Itis probable, however, that the idea of weaving complex ideographiccharacters would not occur to the primitive mind at a very early date, and a long period of progress would elapse before delineative subjectswould be attempted. 

I do not need to follow this style of combination into the morerefined kinds of work and into loom products, but may add that throughall, until perverted by ulterior influences, the characteristicgeometricity and monotonous repetition are allpervading. 

 * * * * *

For the purpose of looking still more closely into the tendencies ofnormal textile decorative development I shall present a series ofIndian baskets, choosing mainly from the closely woven or impactedvarieties because they are so well represented in our collections andat the same time are so very generally embellished with designs incolor; besides, they are probably among the most simple and primitivetextile products known. I have already shown that several types ofcombination when closely impacted produce very similar surfacecharacters and encourage the same general style of decoration. Innearly all, the color features are confined to one series offillets--those of the woof--the other, the warp, being completelyhidden from view. In the preceding series the warp and woof werealmost equally concerned in the expression of design. Here but one isused, and in consequence there is much freedom of expression, as theartist carries the colored filaments back and forth or inserts newones at will. Still it will be seen that in doing this he is by nomeans free; he must follow the straight and narrow pathway laid downby the warp and woof, and, do what he may, he arrives at purelygeometric results. 

[Illustration: FIG. 319. Base of coiled basket showing the method ofbuilding by dual coiling. The base or warp coil is composed ofuntwisted fiber and is formed by adding to the free end as the coilinggoes on. The woof or binding filament, as it is coiled, is caught intothe upper surface of the preceding turn--1/8. ]

[Illustration: FIG. 320. Coiled basket with simple geometric ornament. Work of the northwest coast Indians--1/8. ]

I will now present the examples, which for the sake of uniformity arein all cases of the coiled ware. If a basket is made with no otheridea than that of use the surface is apt to be pretty uniform incolor, the natural color of the woof fillets. If decoration is desireda colored fillet is introduced, which, for the time, takes the placeand does the duty of the ordinary strand. Fig. 319 serves to show theconstruction and surface appearance of the base of a coil made vesselstill quite free from any color decoration. Now, if it is desired tobegin a design, the plain wrapping thread is dropped and a coloredfillet is inserted and the coiling continues. Carried once around thevessel we have an encircling line of dark color corresponding to thelower line of the ornament seen in Fig. 320. If the artist is contentwith a single line of color he sets the end of the dark thread andtakes up the light colored one previously dropped and continues thecoiling. If further elaboration is desired it is easily accomplished. In the example given the workman has taken up the dark fillet againand carried it a few times around the next turn of the warp coil; thenit has been dropped and the white thread taken up, and again, in turn, another dark thread has been introduced and coiled for a few turns, and so on until four encircling rows of dark, alternating rectangleshave been produced. Desiring to introduce a meandered design he hastaken the upper series of rectangles as bases and adding coloredfilaments at the proper time has carried oblique lines, one to theright and the other to the left, across the six succeeding ridges ofthe warp coil. The pairs of stepped lines meeting above were joined inrectangles like those below, and the decoration was closed by a borderline at the top. The vessel was then completed in the light coloredmaterial. In this ornament all forms are bounded by two classes oflines, vertical and horizontal (or, viewed from above or below, radialand encircling), the lines of the warp and the woof. Oblique bands ofcolor are made up of series of rectangles, giving stepped outlines. Although these figures are purely geometric, it is not impossible thatin their position and grouping they preserve a trace of some imitativeconception modified to this shape by the forces of the art. They servequite as well, however, to illustrate simple mechanical elaboration asif entirely free from suspicion of associated ideas. 

[Illustration: FIG. 321. Coiled basket with encircling bands ofornament in white, red, and black, upon a yellowish ground. Obtainedfrom the Indians of the Tule River, California--1/8. ]

In Fig. 321 I present a superb piece of work executed by the Indiansof the Tule River, California. It is woven in the closely impacted, coiled style. The ornament is arranged in horizontal zones andconsists of a series of diamond shaped figures in white with redcenters and black frames set side by side. The processes ofsubstitution where changes of color are required are the same as inthe preceding case and the forms of figures and the disposition ofdesigns are the same, being governed by the same forces. 

[Illustration: FIG. 322. Coiled basket with ornament arranged inzigzag rays. Obtained from the Pima Indians of Arizona--1/8. ]

Another choice piece, from the Pima Indians of Arizona, is given inFig. 322. The lines of the ornament adhere exclusively to thedirections imposed by the warp and the woof, the stripes of blackcolor ascending with the turns of the fillet for a short distance, then for a time following the horizontal ridges, and again ascending, the complete result being a series of zigzag rays set very closetogether. These rays take an oblique turn to the left, and the darkfigures at the angles, from the necessities of construction, form rowsat right angles to these. A few supplementary rays are added towardthe margin to fill out the widening spaces. Another striking exampleof the domination of technique over design is illustrated in Fig. 323. 

[Illustration: FIG. 323. Coiled basket with two bands of meanderedornament. Obtained from the Pima Indians of Arizona--1/4. ]

Two strongly marked, fret-like meanders encircle the vessel, theelements of which are ruled exclusively by the warp and woof, by theradiate and the concentric lines of construction. This is the work ofthe Pima Indians of Arizona. 

[Illustration: FIG. 324. Coiled basket with geometric ornamentcomposed of triangular figures. Obtained from the McCloud RiverIndians, California--1/8. ]

I shall close the series with a very handsome example of Indianbasketry and of basketry ornamentation (Fig. 324). The conical shapeis highly pleasing and the design is thoroughly satisfactory and, likeall the others, is applied in a way indicative of a refined sense ofthe decorative requirements of the utensil. The design is whollygeometric, and, although varied in appearance, is composed almostexclusively of dark triangular figures upon a light ground. Thegeneral grouping is in three horizontal or encircling bands agreeingwith or following the foundation coil. Details are governed by thehorizontal and the oblique structure lines. The vertical constructionlines have no direct part in the conformation of the design exceptingin so far as they impose a stepped character upon all obliqueoutlines. 

These studies could be carried through all the types of primitivetextile combination, but such a work seems unnecessary, for in allcases the elaboration in design, relieved and colored, is alongsimilar lines, is governed by the same class of forces, and reachesclosely corresponding results. 

 * * * * *

We have observed throughout the series of examples presented a decidedtendency toward banded or zonal arrangement of the ornamentation. Noweach of these bands is made up of a number of units, uniform in shapeand in size and joined or linked together in various suitable andconsistent ways. In contemplating them we are led to inquire into thenature of the forces concerned in the accomplishment of such results. The question arises as to exactly how much of the segregating andaggregating forces or tendencies belongs to the technique of the artand how much to the direct esthetic supervision of the human agent, questions as to ideographic influence being for the present omitted. This is a difficult problem to deal with, and I shall not attempt morehere than to point out the apparent teachings of the examples studied. 

The desires of the mind constitute the motive power, the force thatgives rise to all progress in art; the appreciation of beauty and thedesire to increase it are the cause of all progress in purelydecorative elaboration. It appears, however, that there is in the mindno preconceived idea of what that elaboration should be. The mind is agrowing thing and is led forward along the pathways laid out byenvironment. Seeking in art gratification of an esthetic kind itfollows the lead of technique along the channels opened by such of theuseful arts as offer suggestions of embellishment. The results reachedvary with the arts and are important in proportion to the facilitiesfurnished by the arts. As I have already amply shown, the textile artpossesses vast advantages over all other arts in this respect, as itis first in the field, of widest application, full of suggestions ofembellishment, and inexorably fixed in its methods of expression. Themind in its primitive, mobile condition is as clay in the grasp oftechnique. 

A close analysis of the forces and the influences inherent in the artwill be instructive. For the sake of simplicity I exclude fromconsideration all but purely mechanical or non-ideographic elements. It will be observed that order, uniformity, symmetry, are among thefirst lessons of the textile art. From the very beginning the workmanfinds it necessary to direct his attention to these considerations inthe preparation of his material as well as in the building of hisutensils. If parts employed in construction are multiple they must beuniform, and to reach definite results (presupposing always a demandfor such results), either in form or ornament, there must be aconstant counting of numbers and adjusting to spaces. The mostfundamental and constant elements embodied in textile art andavailable for the expression of embellishment are the minute steps ofthe intersections or bindings; the most necessary and constantcombination of these elements is in continuous lines or in rows ofisolated figures; the most necessary and constant directions for thesecombinations are with the web and the woof, or with theircomplementaries, the diagonals. If large areas are covered certainseparation or aggregation of the elements into larger units is calledfor, as otherwise absolute sameness would result. Such separation oraggregation conforms to the construction lines of the fabric, as anyother arrangement would be unnatural and difficult of accomplishment. When the elements or units combine in continuous zones, bands, or raysthey are placed side by side in simple juxtaposition or are united invarious ways, always following the guide lines of construction throughsimple and complex convolutions. Whatever is done is at the suggestionof technique; whatever is done takes a form and arrangement imposed bytechnique. Results are like in like techniques and are unlike inunlike techniques; they therefore vary with the art and with itsvariations in time and character. 

All those agencies pertaining to man that might be supposed importantin this connection--the muscles of the hand and of the eye, the cellstructure of the brain, together with all preconceived ideas of thebeautiful--are all but impotent in the presence of technique, and, sofar as forms of expression go, submit completely to its dictates. Ideas of the beautiful in linear geometric forms are actually formedby technique, and taste in selecting as the most beautiful certainornaments produced in art is but choosing between products that intheir evolution gave it its character and powers, precisely as theanimal selects its favorite foods from among the products thatthroughout its history constitute its sustenance and shape itsappetites. 

 * * * * *

Now, as primitive peoples advance from savagery to barbarism therecomes a time in the history of all kinds of textile products at whichthe natural technical progress of decorative elaboration is interferedwith by forces from without the art. This occurs when ideas, symbolicor otherwise, come to be associated with the purely geometric figures, tending to arrest or modify their development, or, again, it occurswhen the artist seeks to substitute mythologic subjects for thegeometric units. This period cannot be always well defined, as thefirst steps in this direction are so thoroughly subordinated to thetextile forces. Between what may be regarded as purely technical, geometric ornament and ornament recognizably delineative, we find ineach group of advanced textile products a series of forms of mixed oruncertain pedigree. These must receive slight attention here. 

[Illustration: FIG. 325. Coiled basket ornamented with devicesprobably very highly conventionalized mythological subjects. Obtainedfrom the Apache--1/8. ]

Fig. 325 represents a large and handsome basket obtained from theApache. It will be seen that the outline of the figures comprising theprincipal zone of ornament departs somewhat from the four rulingdirections of the textile combination. This was accomplished byincreasing the width of the steps in the outline as the dark raysprogressed, resulting in curved outlines of eccentric character. Thiseccentricity, coupled with the very unusual character of the detailsat the outer extremities of the figures, leads to the surmise thateach part of the design is a conventional representation of some lifeform, a bird, an insect, or perhaps a man. 

By the free introduction of such elements textile ornament loses itspristine geometric purity and becomes in a measure degraded. In themore advanced stages of Pueblo art the ornament of nearly all thetextiles is pervaded by ideographic characters, generally rudesuggestions of life forms, borrowed, perhaps, from mythologic art. This is true of much of the coiled basketry of the Moki Indians. True, many examples occur in which the ancient or indigenous geometric styleis preserved, but the majority appear to be more or less modified. Inmany cases nothing can be learned from a study of the designsthemselves, as the particular style of construction is not adapted torealistic expression, and, at best, resemblances to natural forms arevery remote. Two examples are given in Figs. 326 and 327. I shallexpect, however, when the art of these peoples is better known, tolearn to what particular mythic concept these mixed or impuregeometric devices refer. 

[Illustration: FIG. 326. Coiled tray with geometric devices probablymodified by ideographic association. Moki work--1/4. ]

The same is true of other varieties of Pueblo basketry, notably thecommon decorated wickerware, two specimens of which are given inFigs. 328 and 329. This ware is of the interlaced style, with radiallyarranged web filaments. Its geometric characters are easilydistinguished from those of the coiled ware. Many examples exhibitpurely conventional elaboration, the figures being arranged in rays, zones, checkers, and the like. It is to be expected, however, that thenormal ornament of this class of products should be greatly interferedwith through attempts to introduce extraneous elements, for thepeoples have advanced to a stage of culture at which it is usual toattempt the introduction of mythologic representations into all art. Further consideration of this subject will be necessary in the nextsection of this paper. 

[Illustration: FIG. 327. Coiled tray with geometric devices, probablymodified by ideographic association. Moki work--1/4. ]

[Illustration: FIG. 328. Tray of interlaced style of weaving, showinggeometric ornament, probably modified by ideographic association. Mokiwork--1/4. ]

The processes of pure geometric elaboration with which this section ismainly concerned can be studied to best advantage in more primitiveforms of art. 

[Illustration: FIG. 329. Tray of interlaced style of weaving, showinggeometric ornament, probably modified by ideographic association. Mokiwork--1/4. ]

_Non-essential constructive features. _--Now, all the varied effects ofcolor and design described in the preceding paragraphs are obtainedwithout seriously modifying the simple necessary construction, withoutresorting to the multiple extraordinary devices within easy reach. Thedevelopment and utilization of the latter class of resources must nowreceive attention. In the preceding examples, when it was desired tobegin a figure in color the normal ground filament was dropped out anda colored one set into its place and made to fill its office while itremained; but we find that in many classes of work the coloredelements were added to the essential parts, not substituted for them, although they are usually of use in perfecting the fabric by adding toserviceability as well as to beauty. This is illustrated, for example, by the doubling of one series or of both warp and woof, by theintroduction of pile, by wrapping filaments with strands of othercolors, or by twisting in feathers. Savage nations in all parts of theworld are acquainted with devices of this class and employ them withgreat freedom. The effects produced often correspond closely toneedlework, and the materials employed are often identical in bothvarieties of execution. 

The following examples will serve to illustrate my meaning. The effectseen in Fig. 330 is observed in a small hand wallet obtained inMexico. The fillets employed appear to be wide, flattened straws ofvaried colors. In order to avoid the monotony of a plain checkercertain of the light fillets are wrapped with thin fillets of darktint in such a way that when woven the dark color appears in smallsquares placed diagonally with the fundamental checkers. Additionaleffects are produced by covering certain portions of the filamentswith straws of distinct color, all being woven in with the fabric. Byother devices certain parts of the fillets are made to stand out fromthe surface in sharp points and in ridges, forming geometric figures, either normal or added elements being employed. Another device isshown in Fig. 331. Here a pattern is secured by carrying dark filletsback and forth over the light colored fabric, catching them down atregular intervals during the process of weaving. Again, feathers andother embellishing media are woven in with the woof. Two interestingbaskets procured from the Indians of the northwest coast are shown inFigs. 332 and 333. Feathers of brilliant hues are fixed to and wovenin with certain of the woof strands, which are treated, in theexecution of patterns, just as are ordinary colored threads, carebeing taken not to destroy the beauty of the feathers in the process. The richly colored feathers lying smoothly in one direction are madeto represent various figures necessarily geometric. This simple workis much surpassed, however, by the marvelous feather ornamentation ofthe Mexicans and Peruvians, of which glowing accounts are given byhistorians and of which a few meager traces are found in tombs. Muchof the feather work of all nations is of the nature of embroidery andwill receive attention further on. A very clever device practiced bythe northwest coast tribes consists in the use of two woof strands ofcontrasting colors, one or the other being made to appear on thesurface, as the pattern demands. 

[Illustration: FIG. 330. Ornament produced by wrapping certain lightfillets with darker ones before weaving. Mexican work. ]

[Illustration: FIG. 331. Ornamental effect secured by weaving inseries of dark fillets, forming a superficial device. Work of theKlamath Indians. ]

[Illustration: FIG. 332. Baskets ornamented with feather work. Northwest coast tribes--1/4. ]

[Illustration: FIG. 333. Baskets ornamented with feather work. Northwest coast tribes--1/4. ]

An example from a higher grade of art will be of value in thisconnection. The ancient Peruvians resorted to many clever devices forpurposes of enrichment. An illustration of the use ofextra-constructional means to secure desired ends are given in Figs. 334 and 335. Threads constituting a supplemental warp and woof arecarried across the under side of a common piece of fabric, that theymay be brought up and woven in here and there to produce figures ofcontrasting color upon the right side. Fig. 334 shows the right sideof the cloth, with the secondary series appearing in the border andcentral figure only. Fig. 335 illustrates the opposite side and showsthe loose hanging, unused portions of the auxiliary series. In suchwork, when the figures are numerous and occupy a large part of thesurface, the fabric is really a double one, having a dual warp andwoof. Examples could be multiplied indefinitely, but it will readilybe seen from what has been presented that the results of theseextraordinary means cannot differ greatly from those legitimatelyproduced by the fundamental filaments alone. 

[Illustration FIG. 334. Piece of cotton cloth showing the use of asupplementary web and woof. Ancient Peru. ]

[Illustration FIG. 335. Piece of cotton cloth showing the use of asupplementary web and woof. Ancient Peru. ]

_Superconstructive features. _--In reviewing the superconstructivedecorative features in the preceding section I classified themsomewhat closely by method of execution or application to the fabric, as stitched, inserted, drawn, cut, applied, and appended. It will beseen that, although these devices are to a great extent of the natureof needlework, all cannot be classed under this head. 

Before needles came into use the decorative features were inserted andattached in a variety of ways. In open work nothing was needed but theend of the fillet or part inserted; again, in close work, perforationswere made as in leather work, and the threads were inserted as are thewaxed ends of the shoemaker. 

The importance of this class of decorative devices to primitivepeoples will be apparent if we but call to mind the work of our ownIndian tribes. What a vast deal of attention is paid to those classesof embroideries in which beads, feathers, quills, shells, seeds, teeth, &c. , are employed, and to the multitude of novel applicationsof tassels, fringes, and tinkling pendants. The taste for these thingsis universal and their relation to the development of esthetic ideasis doubtless very intimate. 

Needlework arose in the earliest stages of art and at first wasemployed in joining parts, such as leaves, skins, and tissues, forvarious useful purposes, and afterwards in attaching ornaments. Intime the attaching media, as exposed in stitches, loops, knots, andthe like, being of bright colors, were themselves utilized asembellishment, and margins and apertures were beautified by variousbindings and borders, and finally patterns were worked in contrastingcolors upon the surfaces of the cloths and other materials of likenature or use. 

No other art so constantly and decidedly suggested embellishment andcalled for the exercise of taste. It was the natural habitat fordecoration. It was the field in which technique and taste were mostfrequently called upon to work hand in hand. 

With the growth of culture the art was expanded and perfected, itswonderful capacity for expression leading from mere bindings topretentious borders, to patterns, to the introduction of ideographs, to the representation of symbols and mythologic subjects, and fromthese to the delineation of nature, the presentation of historical andpurely pictorial scenes. 

And now a few words in regard to the character of the work and itsbearing upon the geometric system of decoration. As purelyconstructive ornamentation has already been presented, I will firsttake up that class of superconstructive work most nearly related toit. In some varieties of basketry certain bindings of the warp andwoof are actually left imperfect, with the idea of completing theconstruction by subsequent processes, the intersections being goneover stitch by stitch and lashed together, the embroidery threadspassing in regular order through the openings of the mesh. Thisprocess is extremely convenient to the decorator, as changes from onecolor to another are made without interfering with construction, andthe result is of a closely similar character to that reached byworking the colors in with warp and woof. In a very close fabric thismethod cannot be employed, but like results are reached by passing theadded filaments beneath the protruding parts of the bindings and, stitch by stitch, covering up the plain fabric, working brightpatterns. Fig. 336 is intended to show how this is done. Thefoundation is of twined work and the decorating fillets are passedunder by lifting, with or without a needle. This process isextensively practiced by our west coast tribes, and the results areextremely pleasing. The materials most used are quills and brightcolored straws, the foundation fabric being of bark or of rushes. Theresults in such work are generally geometric, in a way correspondingmore or less closely with the ground work combination. 

[Illustration: FIG. 336. Grass embroidery upon the surface of closelyimpacted, twined basketry. Work of the northwest coast Indians. ]

A large class of embroideries are applied by like processes, butwithout reference to the construction of the foundation fabric, asthey are also applied to felt and leather. Again, artificiallyprepared perforations are used, through which the fillets are passed. The results are much less uniformly geometric than where the fabric isfollowed; yet the mere adding of the figures, stitch by stitch or partby part, is sufficient to impart a large share of geometricity, as maybe seen in the buckskin bead work and in the dentalium and quill workof the Indians. 

Feather embroidery was carried to a high degree of perfection by ourancient aborigines, and the results were perhaps the most brilliant ofall these wonderful decorations. I have already shown how feathers arewoven in with the warp and woof, and may now give a singleillustration of the application of feather work to the surfaces offabrics. Among the beautiful articles recovered from the tombs ofAncon, Peru, are some much decayed specimens of feather work. In ourexample delicate feathers of red, blue, and yellow hues are applied tothe surface of a coarse cotton fabric by first carefully tying themtogether in rows at regular distances and afterwards stitching themdown, as shown in Fig. 337. 

The same method is practiced by modern peoples in many parts of theworld. Other decorative materials are applied in similar ways byattachment to cords or fillets which are afterwards stitched down. Inall this work the geometricity is entirely or nearly uniform withthat of the foundation fabrics. Other classes of decoration, drawnwork, appliqué, and the like, are not of great importance inaboriginal art and need no additional attention here, as they have butslight bearing upon the development of design. 

[Illustration: FIG. 337. Feather embroidery of the ancient Peruvians, showing the method of attaching the feathers. ]

Attached or appended ornaments constitute a most important part ofdecorative resource. They are less subject to the laws ofgeometricity, being fixed to surfaces and margins without closereference to the web and woof. They include fringes, tassels, and themultitude of appendable objects, natural and artificial, with whichprimitive races bedeck their garments and utensils. A somewhatdetailed study of this class of ornament is given at the end of thepreceding section. 

_Adventitious features. _--Ornament is applied to the surfaces offabrics by painting and by stamping. These methods of decoration wereemployed in very early times and probably originated in other branchesof art. If the surface features of the textile upon which a design ispainted are strongly pronounced, the figures produced with the brushor pencil will tend to follow them, giving a decidedly geometricresult. If the surface is smooth the hand is free to follow itsnatural tendencies, and the results will be analogous in character todesigns painted upon pottery, rocks, or skins. In primitive times boththe texture of the textiles and the habits of the decorator, acquiredin textile work, tended towards the geometric style of delineation, and we find that in work in which the fabric lines are not followed atall the designs are still geometric, and geometric in the same way asare similar designs woven in with the fabric. Illustrations of thisare given in the next section. 

 * * * * *

I have dwelt at sufficient length upon the character and thetendencies of the peculiar system of embellishment that arises withintextile art as the necessary outgrowth of technique, and now proceedto explain the relations of this system to associated art. 

In the strong forward tendency of the textile system of decoration ithas made two conquests of especial importance. In the first place ithas subdued and assimilated all those elements of ornament that havehappened to enter its realm from without, and in the second place ithas imposed its habits and customs upon the decorative systems of allarts with which the textile art has come in contact. 

GEOMETRICITY IMPOSED UPON ADOPTED ELEMENTS OF DESIGN. 

At a very early stage of culture most peoples manifest decidedartistic tendencies, which are revealed in attempts to depict variousdevices, life forms, and fancies upon the skin and upon the surfacesof utensils, garments, and other articles and objects. The figures arevery often decorative in effect and may be of a trivial nature, butvery generally such art is serious and pertains to events orsuperstitions. The devices employed may be purely conventional orgeometric, containing no graphic element whatever; but life formsafford the most natural and satisfactory means of recording, conveying, and symbolizing ideas, and hence preponderate largely. Suchforms, on account of their intimate relations with the philosophy ofthe people, are freely embodied in every art suitable to theiremployment. As already seen, the peculiar character of textileconstruction places great difficulties in the way of introducingunsymmetric and complex figures like those of natural objects intofabrics. The idea of so employing them may originally have beensuggested by the application of designs in color to the woven surfacesor by resemblances between the simpler conventional life formderivatives and the geometric figures indigenous to the art. 

At any rate, the idea of introducing life forms into the texture wassuggested, and in the course of time a great deal of skill was shownin their delineation, the bolder workmen venturing to employ a widerange of graphic subjects. 

Now, if we examine these woven forms with reference to themodifications brought about by the textile surveillance, we find thatthe figures, as introduced in the cloth, do not at all correspond withthose executed by ordinary graphic methods, either in degree ofelaboration or in truthfulness of expression. They have a style oftheir own. Each delineative element upon entering the textile realm isforced into those peculiar conventional outlines imposed by thegeometric construction, the character of which has already been dweltupon at considerable length. We find, however, that the degree ofconvention is not uniform throughout all fabrics, but that it varieswith the refinement of the threads or filaments, the compactness ofthe mesh, the character of the combination, the graphic skill of theartist, and the tendencies of his mind; yet we observe that throughall there is still exhibited a distinct and peculiar geometricity. 

So pronounced is this technical bias that delineations of aparticular creature--as, for example, a bird--executed by distant andunrelated peoples, are reduced in corresponding styles of fabric toalmost identical shapes. This conventionalizing force is furtherillustrated by the tendency in textile representation to blot outdifferences of time and culture, so that when a civilized artisan, capable of realistic pictorial delineation of a high order, introducesa figure into a certain form of coarse fabric he arrives at a resultalmost identical with that reached by the savage using the same, whohas no graphic language beyond the rudest outline. 

A number of examples may be given illustrating this remarkable powerof textile combination over ornament. I select three in which thehuman figure is presented. One is chosen from Iroquoian art, one fromDigger Indian art, and one from the art of the Incas--peoples unequalin grade of culture, isolated geographically, and racially distinct. Ihave selected specimens in which the parts employed give features ofcorresponding size, so that comparisons are easily instituted. Theexample shown in Fig. 338 illustrates a construction peculiar to thewampum belts of the Iroquois and their neighbors, and quite unlikeordinary weaving. It is taken from the middle portion of what is knownas the Penn wampum belt. The horizontal series of strands consists ofnarrow strips of buckskin, through which the opposing series ofthreads are sewed, holding in place the rows of cylindrical shellbeads. Purple beads are employed to develop the figures in a ground ofwhite beads. If the maker of this belt had been required to execute inchalk a drawing depicting brotherly love the results would have beenvery different. 

[Illustration: FIG. 338. Figures from the Penn wampum belt, showingthe conventional form imposed in bead work. ]

My second illustration (Fig. 339) is drawn from a superb example ofthe basketry of the Yokut Indians of California. The two figures formpart of a spirally radiating band of ornament, which is shown to goodadvantage in the small cut. Fig. 340. It is of the coiled style ofconstruction. The design is worked in four colors and the effect isquiet and rich. 

[Illustration: FIG. 339. Conventional figures from a California Indianbasket. ]

[Illustration: FIG. 340. Basket made by the Yokut Indians ofCalifornia. ]

Turning southward from California and passing through many strangelands we find ourselves in Peru, and among a class of remains thatbespeak a high grade of culture. The inhabitants of Ancon werewonderfully skilled in the textile art, and thousands of handsomeexamples have been obtained from their ancient tombs. Among theserelics are many neat little workbaskets woven from rushes. One ofthese, now in the National Museum, is encircled by a decorated belt inwhich are represented seven human figures woven in black filamentsupon a brown ground. 

The base and rim of the basket are woven in the intertwinedcombination, but in the decorated belt the style is changed to theplain right angled interlacing, for the reason, no doubt, that thiscombination was better suited to the development of the intendeddesign. Besides the fundamental series of fillets the weaver resortedto unusual devices in order to secure certain desired results. In thefirst place the black horizontal series of filaments does notalternate in the simplest way with the brown series, but, where a widespace of the dark color is called for, several of the brown strandsare passed over at one step, as in the head and body, and in the widerinterspaces the dark strands pass under two or more of the opposingstrands. In this way broad areas of color are obtained. It will beobserved, however, that the construction is weakened by thismodification, and that to remedy the defect two additional extraconstructive series of fillets are added. These are of much lighterweight than the main series, that they may not obscure the pattern. Over the dark series they run vertically and over the light obliquely. 

[Illustration: FIG. 341. Conventional human figures from an ancientPeruvian basket. ]

It will be seen that the result, notwithstanding all this modificationof procedure, is still remarkably like that of the preceding examples, the figures corresponding closely in kind and degree of geometricity. 

The fact is that in this coarse work refinement of drawing isabsolutely unattainable. It appears that the sharply pronounced stepsexhibited in the outlines are due to the great width of the filletsused. With the finer threads employed by most nations of moderateculture the stepped effect need not obtrude itself, for smoothoutlines and graceful curves are easily attainable; yet, as a rule, even the finer fabrics continue to exhibit in their decorations thepronounced geometric character seen in ruder forms. I present astriking example of this in Fig. 342, a superb piece of Incariangobelins, in which a gaily costumed personage is worked upon a darkred ground dotted with symbols and strange devices. The work isexecuted in brilliant colors and in great detail. But with all thefacility afforded for the expression of minutely modulated form thestraight lines and sharp angles are still present. The traditions ofthe art were favorable to great geometricity, and the tendencies ofthe warp and woof and the shape of the spaces to be filled weredecidedly in that direction. 

[Illustration: FIG. 342. Human figure in Peruvian gobelins, showingcharacteristic textile convention. From chromolithographs published byReiss and Stübel in The Necropolis of Ancon. ]

[Illustration: FIG. 343. Human figures from a Peruvian vase, done infree hand, graphic style. ]

In order that the full force of my remarks may be appreciable to theeye of the reader, I give an additional illustration (Fig. 343). Thetwo figures here shown, although I am not able to say positively thatthe work is pre-Columbian, were executed by a native artist of aboutthe same stage of culture as was the work of the textile design. Thesefigures are executed in color upon the smooth surface of an earthenvase and illustrate perfectly the peculiar characters of free hand, graphic delineation. Place this and the last figure side by side andwe see how vastly different is the work of two artists of equalcapacity when executed in the two methods. This figure should also becompared with the embroidered figures shown in Fig. 348. 

The tendencies to uniformity in textile ornament here illustrated maybe observed the world over. Every element entering the art mustundergo a similar metamorphosis; hence the remarkable power of thisalmost universally practiced art upon the whole body of decorativedesign. 

[Illustration: FIG. 344. Human figure modified by execution inconcentric interlaced style of weaving--1/3. ]

That the range of results produced by varying styles of weaving and ofwoven objects may be appreciated, I present some additional examples. Coiled wares, for instance, present decorative phenomena strikingly atvariance with those in which there is a rectangular disposition ofparts. Instead of the two or more interlacing series of parallelfillets exhibited in the latter style, we have one radiate and oneconcentric series. The effect of this arrangement upon the introducedhuman figure is very striking, as will be seen by reference to Fig. 344, which represents a large tray obtained from the Moki Indians. Thefigure probably represents one of the mythologic personages of theMoki pantheon or some otherwise important priestly functionary, wearing the characteristic headdress of the ceremony in which theplaque was to be used. The work is executed in wicker, stained in suchbright tints as were considered appropriate to the various features ofthe costume. Referring in detail to the shape and arrangement of theparts of the figure, it is apparent that many of the remarkablefeatures are due to constructive peculiarities. The round face, forexample, does not refer to the sun or the moon, but results from theconcentric weaving. The oblique eyes have no reference to a Mongolianorigin, as they only follow the direction of the ray upon which theyare woven, and the headdress does not refer to the rainbow or theaurora because it is arched, but is arched because the constructionforced it into this shape. The proportion of the figure is not so verybad because the Moki artist did not know better, but because thesurface of the tray did not afford room to project the body and limbs. 

[Illustration: FIG. 345. Figure of a bird painted upon a Zuņi shield, free hand delineation. ]

Now, it may be further observed that had the figure been placed at oneside of the center, extending only from the border to the middle ofthe tray, an entirely different result would have been reached; butthis is better illustrated in a series of bird delineations presentedin the following figures. With many tribes the bird is an object ofsuperstitious interest and is introduced freely into all art productssuitable for its delineation. It is drawn upon walls, skins, pottery, and various utensils and weapons, especially those directly connectedwith ceremonies in which the mythical bird is an important factor. Thebird form was probably in familiar use long before it was employed inthe decoration of basketry. In Fig. 345 I present an ordinary graphicrepresentation. It is copied from a Zuņi shield and is the device ofan order or the totem of a clan. The style is quite conventional, as aresult of the various constraints surrounding its production. But whata strange metamorphosis takes place when it is presented in thebasketmaker's language. Observe the conventional pattern shown uponthe surface of a Moki tray (Fig. 346). We have difficulty inrecognizing the bird at all, although the conception is identical withthe preceding. The positions of the head and legs and the expandedwings and tail correspond as closely as possible, but delineation ishampered by technique. The peculiar construction barely permits thepresentation of a recognizable life form, and permits it in aparticular way, which will be understood by a comparison with thetreatment of the human figure in Fig. 344. In that case the interlacedcombination gives relievo results, characterized by wide, radiatingribs and narrow, inconspicuous, concentric lines, which cross the ribsin long steps. The power of expression lies almost wholly with theconcentric series, and detail must in a great measure follow theconcentric lines. In the present case (Fig. 346) this is reversed andlines employed in expressing forms are radiate. 

[Illustration: FIG. 346. Figure of a bird executed in a coiled Mokitray, textile delineation. ]

The precise effect of this difference of construction upon aparticular feature may be shown by the introduction of anotherillustration. In Fig. 347 we have a bird woven in a basket of theinterlaced style. We see with what ease the long sharp bill and theslender tongue (shown by a red filament between the two darkmandibles) are expressed. In the other case the construction is suchthat the bill, if extended in the normal direction, is broad andsquare at the end, and the tongue, instead of lying between themandibles, must run across the bill, totally at variance with thetruth; in this case the tongue is so represented, the light verticalband seen in the cut being a yellow stripe. It will be seen that thetwo representations are very unlike each other, not because ofdifferences in the conception and not wholly on account of the styleof weaving, but rather because the artist chose to extend one acrossthe whole surface of the utensil and to confine the other to one sideof the center. 

[Illustration: FIG. 347. Figure of a bird woven in interlaced wickerat one side of the center. ]

It is clear, therefore, from the preceding observations that theconvention of woven life forms varies with the kind of weaving, withthe shape of the object, with the position upon the object, and withthe shape of the space occupied, as well as with the inherited styleof treatment and with the capacity of the artist concerned. Thesevaried forces and influences unite in the metamorphosis of all theincoming elements of textile embellishment. 

It will be of interest to examine somewhat closely the modificationsproduced in pictorial motives introduced through superstructural andadventitious agencies. 

We are accustomed, at this age of the world, to see needleworkemployed successfully in the delineation of graphic forms and observethat even the Indian, under the tutelage of the European, reproducesin a more or less realistic way the forms of vegetal and animal life. As a result we find it difficult to realize the simplicity andconservatism of primitive art. The intention of the primitive artistwas generally not to depict nature, but to express an idea or decoratea space, and there was no strong reason why the figures should notsubmit to the conventionalizing tendencies of the art. 

I have already shown that embroidered designs, although not fromnecessity confined to geometric outlines, tend to take a purelygeometric character from the fabric upon which they are executed, aswell as from the mechanical processes of stitching. This is well shownin Fig. 348, a fine specimen given by Wiener in his work Pérou etBolive. 

[Illustration: FIG. 348. Embroidery upon a cotton net in which thetextile combinations are followed step by step. Ancient Peruvianwork. ]

A life form worked upon a net does not differ essentially from thesame subject woven in with the web and woof. The reason is found inthe fact that in embroidery the workman was accustomed from the firstto follow the geometric combination of the foundation fabric step bystep, and later in life delination he pursued the same method. 

It would seem natural, however, that when the foundation fabric doesnot exhibit well marked geometric characters, as in compactly wovencanvas, the needlework would assume free hand characters and followthe curves and irregularities of the natural object depicted; but suchis not the case in purely aboriginal work. An example of embroideryobtained from an ancient grave at Ancon, Peru, is shown in Fig. 349. Apiece of brown cotton canvas is embellished with a border of birdfigures in bright colored wool thread. The lines of the figures do notobey the web and woof strictly, as the lines are difficult to follow, but the geometric character is as perfectly preserved as if the designwere woven in the goods. 

[Illustration: FIG. 349. Embroidery in which the foundation fabric isnot followed accurately, but which exhibits the full textilegeometricity. Ancient Peruvian work. ]

[Illustration: FIG. 350. Design painted in color upon a woven surface, exhibiting the full degree of geometric convention. Ancient Peruvianwork. Copied from The Necropolis of Ancon. ]

So habit and association carry the geometric system into adventitiousdecoration. When the ancient Peruvian executed a design in color upona woven surface (Fig. 350), using a pencil or brush, the result washardly less subject to textile restraint. 

As a matter of course, since there are two distinct styles ofdecorative design--the textile and the free hand--there existintermediate forms partaking of the character of both; but it isnevertheless clear that the textile system transforms or greatlymodifies all nature motives associated with it, whether introducedinto the fabric or applied to its surface. 

In countries where the textile art is unimportant and the textilesystem of decoration does not obtrude itself, free hand methods mayprevail to such an extent that the geometric influence is but littlefelt. The Haidah Indians, for example, paint designs with greatfreedom and skill, and those applied to woven surfaces are identicalwith those executed upon skins, wood, and stone, but this art isdoubtless much modified by the means and methods of Europeans. Ourstudies should be confined wholly to pure indigenous art. 

EXTENSION OF TEXTILE ORNAMENT TO OTHER FORMS OF ART. 

I have now dwelt at sufficient length upon the character of thetextile system of ornament and have laid especial stress upon themanner in which it is interwoven with the technical constitution ofthe art. I have illustrated the remarkable power of the art by whichdecorative elements from without, coming once within the magicinfluence, are seized upon and remodeled in accordance with the lawsof textile combination. Pursuing the investigation still further it isfound that the dominion of the textile system is not limited to theart, but extends to other arts. Like a strong race of men it is not tobe confined to its own original habitat, but spreads to other realms, stamping its own habits and character upon whatever happens to comewithin its reach. Its influence is felt throughout the whole range ofthose arts with which the esthetic sense of man seeks to associateideas of beauty. It is necessary, before closing this paper, toexamine briefly the character and extent of this influence and todescribe in some detail the agencies through which the results areaccomplished. First and most important are the results of directtransmission. 

House building, or architecture as it is called in the higher stages, is in primitive times to a great extent textile; as culture develops, other materials and other systems of construction are employed, and the resultant forms vary accordingly; but textile characters areespecially strong and persistent in the matter of ornament, andsurvive all changes, howsoever complete. In a similar way otherbranches of art differentiated in material and function from theparent art inherit many characters of form and ornament conceived inthe textile stage. It may be difficult to say with reference to anyparticular example of design that it had a textile origin, for theremay be multiple origins to the same or to closely corresponding forms;but we may assert in a general way of the great body of geometricornament that it owes something--if not its inspiration, its modes ofexpression--to the teachings of the textile system. This appearsreasonable when we consider that the weaver's art, as a medium ofesthetic ideas, had precedence in time over nearly all competitors. Being first in the field it stood ready on the birth of new forms ofart, whether directly related or not, to impose its characters uponthem. What claim can architecture, sculpture, or ceramics have uponthe decorative conceptions of the Digger Indians, or even upon thoseof the Zuņi or Moki? The former have no architecture, sculpture, orceramics; but their system of decoration, as we have seen, is highlydeveloped. The Pueblo tribes at their best have barely reached thestage at which esthetic ideas are associated with building; yetclassic art has not produced a set of geometric motives more chaste orvaried. These examples of the development of high forms of decorationduring the very early stages of the arts are not isolated. Others areobserved in other countries, and it is probable that if we could liftthe veil and peer into the far prehistoric stages of the world'sgreatest cultures the same condition and order would be revealed. Itis no doubt true that all of the shaping arts in the fullness of theirdevelopment have given rise to decorative features peculiar tothemselves; for construction, whether in stone, clay, wood, or metal, in their rigid conditions, exhibits characters unknown before, many ofwhich tend to give rise to ornament. But this ornament is generallyonly applicable to the art in which it develops, and is nottransferable by natural processes--as of a parent to its offspring--asare the esthetic features of the weaver's art. 

Besides the direct transmission of characters and forms as suggestedin a preceding paragraph, there are many less direct but stillefficacious methods of transfer by means of which various arts acquiretextile decorative features, as will be seen by the followingillustrations. 

Japanese art is celebrated for its exquisite decorative design. Uponsuperb works of porcelain we have skillful representations of subjectstaken from nature and from mythology, which are set with perfect tasteupon fields or within borders of elaborate geometric design. If weshould ask how such motives came to be employed in ceramic decoration, the answer would be given that they were selected and employed becausethey were regarded as fitting and beautiful by a race of decoratorswhose taste is well nigh infallible. But this explanation, howeversatisfactory as applied to individual examples of modern art, is notat all applicable to primitive art, for the mind of man was notprimarily conscious of the beauty or fitness of decorative elements, nor did he think of using them independently of the art to which theywere indigenous. Now the ceramic art gives rise to comparatively fewelements of decoration, and must therefore acquire the great body ofits decorative motives from other arts by some process not primarilydependent upon the exercise of judgment or taste, and yet not bydirect inheritance, as the techniques of the two arts are whollydistinct. 

Textile and fictile arts are, in their earlier stages, to a largeextent, vessel making arts, the one being functionally the offshoot ofthe other. The textile art is the parent, and, as I have alreadyshown, develops within itself a geometric system of ornament. Thefictile art is the offshoot and has within itself no predilection fordecoration. It is dependent and plastic. Its forms are to a greatextent modeled and molded within the textile shapes and acquireautomatically some of the decorative surface characters of the mold. This is the beginning of the transfer, and as time goes on othermethods are suggested by which elements indigenous to the one art aretransferred to the other. Thus we explain the occurrence, the constantrecurrence of certain primary decorative motives in primitiveceramics. The herring bone, the checker, the guilloche, and the likeare greatly the heritage of the textile art. Two forms derived fromtextile surfaces are illustrated in Figs. 351 and 352. In the firstexample shown, herring bone patterns appear as the result of textilecombination, and in the second a triangular checker is produced in thesame way. In Fig. 352 we see the result of copying these patterns inincised lines upon soft clay. 

[Illustration: FIG. 351. Herring bone and checker patterns produced intextile combinations. ]

[Illustration: FIG. 352. Herring bone and checker figures in fictileforms transferred from the textile. ]

Again, the ancient potter, who was in the habit of modeling his wareswithin baskets, seems to have conceived the idea of building hisvessels by coiling just as he built his baskets. The surface exhibitscoiled ridges like basketry, as shown in Fig. 353, and the textilecharacter was further imposed upon the clay by marking these coilswith the thumb and with implements to give the effect of thetransverse series of filaments, and the geometric color patterns ofthe basketry were reproduced in incised lines. When these peoples cameto paint their wares it was natural that the colored patterns nativeto the basketry should also be reproduced, and many more or lessliteral transfers by copying are to be found. A fine example of thesepainted textile designs is shown in Fig. 354. It is executed in amasterly style upon a handsome vase of the white ware of ancientTusayan. Not only are the details reproduced with all their geometricexactness, but the arrangement of the designs upon the vessel is thesame as in the textile original. Nine-tenths of the more archaic, Pueblo, ceramic, ornamental designs are traceable to the textile art, and all show the influence of textile convention. 

[Illustration: FIG. 353. Earthen vase built by coiling, exhibitingdecorative characters derived from basketry. ]

[Illustration: FIG. 354. Ceramic ornament copied literally from atextile original. ]

Another peculiar class of transfers of a somewhat more indirect naturemay be noticed. All the more advanced American nations were very fondof modeling the human form in clay, a large percentage of vesselshaving some trace of the human form or physiognomy. Now, in many casesthe costume of the personage represented in the clay is also imitated, and generally in color, the details of the fabrics receiving theirfull share of attention. Such an example, from a sepulcher at Ancon, is shown in Fig. 355. Here the poncho or mantle thrown across theshoulders falls down upon the body in front and behind and the stripesand conventional fishes are accurately reproduced. In this way bothstyle and matter of the textile decoration are introduced into theceramic art. 

[Illustration: FIG. 355. Textile patterns transferred to potterythrough the copying of costume. From The Necropolis of Ancon, by Reissand Stübel, Pl. 94. ]

It will be seen by these illustrations that there are many naturalmethods, automatic or semiautomatic in character, by which the one artreceives aid from the other; that in the beginning of the transfer oftextile ornament to fictile forms the process is purely mechanical, and that it is continued automatically without any very decidedexercise of judgment or taste. As a result, these borrowed decorationsare generally quite as consistent and appropriate as if developedwithin the art itself. Later in the course of progress the potterescapes in a measure from this narrow groove and elaborates hisdesigns with more freedom, being governed still to a certain extent bythe laws of instinctive and automatic procedure. When, finally, intellect assumes to carry on the work independently of these laws, decoration tends to become debased. 

Turning to other branches of art, what traces do we find of thetransfer to them of textile features? Take, for example, sculpture. Inthe wood carving of the Polynesians we observe a most elaborate systemof decoration, more or less geometric in character. We do not need tolook a second time to discover a striking likeness to the textilesystem, and we ask, Is it also derived from a textile source? In thefirst place let us seek within the art a reason for the peculiarforms. In carving wood and in tracing figures upon it with pointedtools the tendency would certainly be towards straight lines andformal combinations; but in this work there would be a lack ofuniformity in execution and of persistency in narrow lines ofcombination, such as result from the constant necessity of countingand spacing in the textile art. In the presentation of natural formscurved lines are called for, and there is nothing inherent in thecarver's art to forbid the turning of such lines with the graver orknife. Graphic art would be realistic to an extent regulated by theskill and habits of the artist. But, in reality, the geometriccharacter of this work is very pronounced, and we turn naturallytoward the textile art to ask whether in some way that art has notexercised an influence. The textile arts of these peoples are highlydeveloped and were doubtless so in a degree from very early times, andmust have had a close relation with the various arts, and especiallyso in the matter of ornament. Specific examples may be cited showingthe intimacy of wood carving to textilia. Bows, spears, arrows, &c. Are bound with textile materials to increase their strength. Knivesand other weapons are covered with textile sheaths and handles ofcertain utensils are lashed on with twisted cords. In ceremonialobjects these textile features are elaborated for ornament and thecharacteristic features of this ornament are transferred to associatedsurfaces of wood and stone by the graver. A most instructiveillustration is seen in the ceremonial adzes so numerous in museums(Fig. 356). The cords used primarily in attaching the haft are, afterloss of function, elaborately plaited and interwoven until they becomean important feature and assume the character of decoration. The heavywooden handles are elaborately carved, and the suggestions of figuresgiven by the interlaced cords are carried out in such detail that at alittle distance it is impossible to say where the real textile surfaceceases and the sculptured portion begins. 

All things considered, I regard it as highly probable that much of thegeometric character exhibited in Polynesian decoration is due totextile dominance. That these peoples are in the habit of employingtextile designs in non-textile arts is shown in articles of costume, such as the tapa cloths, made from the bark of the mulberry tree, which are painted or stamped in elaborate geometric patterns. Thistransfer is also a perfectly natural one, as the ornament is appliedto articles having functions identical with the woven stuffs in whichthe patterns originate, and, besides, the transfer is accomplished bymeans of stamps themselves textile. Fig. 357 illustrates theconstruction of these stamps and indicates just how the textilecharacter is acquired. 

[Illustration: FIG. 356. Ceremonial adz, with carved ornamentimitating textile wrapping. Polynesian work. ]

Textile materials are very generally associated with the human figurein art, and thus sculpture, which deals chiefly with the human form, becomes familiar with geometric motives and acquires them. Throughsculpture these motives enter architecture. But textile decorationpervades architecture before the sculptor's chisel begins to carveornament in stone and before architecture has developed of itself therudiments of a system of surface embellishment. Textile art in mats, covers, shelters, and draperies is intimately associated with floorsand walls of houses, and the textile devices are in time transferredto the stone and plaster. The wall of an ancient Pueblo estufa, orceremonial chamber, built in the pre-esthetic period of architecture, antedating, in stage of culture, the first known step in Egyptian art, is encircled by a band of painted figures, borrowed, like those of thepottery, from a textile source. The doorway or rather entrance to therude hovel of a Navajo Indian is closed by a blanket of native make, unsurpassed in execution and exhibiting conventional designs of a highorder. 

[Illustration: FIG. 357. Portion of a tapa stamp, showing itssubtextile character. A palm leaf is cut to the desired shape and thepatterns are sewed in or stitched on. ]

[Illustration: FIG. 358. Design in stucco, exhibiting textilecharacters. ]

The ancient "hall of the arabesques" at Chimu, Peru, is decorated inelaborate designs that could only have arisen in the textile art(Fig. 358), and other equally striking examples are to be found inother American countries. The classic surface decorations known andused in Oriental countries from time immemorial prevailed inindigenous American architecture at a stage of culture lower than anyknown stage of classic art. 

It may appear that I have advocated too strongly the claims of thetextile art to the parentage of geometric ornament and that theconclusions reached are not entirely satisfactory, but I haveendeavored so to present the varied phenomena of the art that thestudent may readily reach deductions of his own. A correspondinglycareful study of other branches of art will probably enable us finallyto form a just estimate of the relative importance of the forces andtendencies concerned in the evolution of decoration. 

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INDEX

Alaskan Indians, illustration of ornamentation by 199Ancon, Peru, examples of ornamentation from graves at 212, 230, 231, 236, 243, 248Apache, illustrations of ornamentation by 198, 213, 223British Guiana Indians, illustrations of ornamentation by 217Chimu, Peru, ornamentation of "hall of arabesques" at 251, 252Clallam Indians, illustrations of ornamentation by 207Color in textile art 201, 202Color phenomena in textile ornament 215-232Form in textile art and its relation to ornament, with illustrations from Indian work 196-201Geometric design, relations of, to textile ornament 202-244Holmes, W. H. Paper by, on textile art in its relation to the development of form and ornament 189-252Klamath Indians, illustrations of ornamentation by 208, 209, 227McCloud River Indians, illustrations of ornamentation by 221Moki, illustrations of ornamentation by 197, 205, 224, 225, 226, 238, 240Northwest Coast Indians, illustrations of ornamentation by 213, 218, 227, 230Penn wampum belt 233Peruvians, ancient, illustrations of ornamentation by 211, 212, 214, 228, 230, 231, 235, 236, 237, 242, 243, 248Pima Indians, illustrations of ornamentation by 220Piute Indians, illustrations of ornamentation by 198, 205Polynesian ornamentation, illustrations of 249, 250Seminole Indians, illustrations of ornamentation by 207Textile art in its relation to the development of form and ornament, paper by W. H. Holmes on 189-252Tule River Indians, illustrations of ornamentation by 219Tusayan ornament, illustrations of 247, 248Wiener, cited 242Yokut Indians, illustrations of ornamentation by 233, 234Zuņi, illustrations of ornamentation by 239

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