<SPAN name="startofbook"></SPAN>
<hr style="width: 95%;" />
<h3>SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION—BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY.</h3>
<p><!-- Page 437 --><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page437" id="page437">[Pg 437]</SPAN></span></p>
<hr />
<h2>ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT</h2>
<h3>OF</h3>
<h1>FORM AND ORNAMENT IN CERAMIC ART.</h1>
<h3>BY</h3>
<h2>WILLIAM H. HOLMES.</h2>
<hr style="width: 95%;" />
<p><!-- Page 438 --><SPAN name="page438" id="page438"></SPAN></p>
<p><!-- Page 439 --><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page439" id="page439">[Pg 439]</SPAN></span></p>
<h2>CONTENTS.</h2>
<table cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2" summary="contents" width="60%">
<tr>
<td></td>
<td style="text-align: right;">Page.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Introductory</td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><SPAN href="#page443">443</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Origin of form</td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><SPAN href="#page445">445</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding-left: 2em;">By adventition</td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><SPAN href="#page445">445</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding-left: 2em;">By imitation</td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><SPAN href="#page445">445</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding-left: 2em;">By invention</td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><SPAN href="#page450">450</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Modification of form</td>
<td style="text-align: right;"><SPAN href="#page450">450</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding-left: 2em;">By adventition</td>
<td style="text-align:right;"><SPAN href="#page450">450</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding-left: 2em;">By intention</td>
<td style="text-align:right;"><SPAN href="#page452">452</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Origin of ornament</td>
<td style="text-align:right;"><SPAN href="#page453">453</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding-left: 2em;">From natural objects</td>
<td style="text-align:right;"><SPAN href="#page454">454</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding-left: 2em;">From artificial objects</td>
<td style="text-align:right;"><SPAN href="#page455">455</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding-left: 4em;">Functional features</td>
<td style="text-align:right;"><SPAN href="#page455">455</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding-left: 4em;">Constructional features</td>
<td style="text-align:right;"><SPAN href="#page456">456</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding-left: 2em;">From accidents attending construction</td>
<td style="text-align:right;"><SPAN href="#page457">457</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding-left: 2em;">From ideographic and pictorial subjects</td>
<td style="text-align:right;"><SPAN href="#page457">457</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Modification of ornament</td>
<td style="text-align:right;"><SPAN href="#page457">457</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding-left: 2em;">Through material</td>
<td style="text-align:right;"><SPAN href="#page458">458</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding-left: 2em;">Through form</td>
<td style="text-align:right;"><SPAN href="#page458">458</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td style="padding-left: 2em;">Through methods of realization</td>
<td style="text-align:right;"><SPAN href="#page459">459</SPAN></td>
</tr>
</table>
<p><!-- Page 440 --><SPAN name="page440" id="page440"></SPAN></p>
<p><!-- Page 441 --><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page441" id="page441">[Pg 441]</SPAN></span></p>
<hr style="width: 95%;" />
<h2>ILLUSTRATIONS.</h2>
<table cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2" summary="illustrations" width="60%">
<tr>
<td><span class="smcap">Fig.</span></td>
<td></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>464.—Form derived from a gourd</td>
<td><SPAN href="#image1">446</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>465.—Form derived from a conch, shell</td>
<td><SPAN href="#image2">447</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>466.—Form derived from a stone pot</td>
<td><SPAN href="#image3">448</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>467.—Form derived from a wooden tray</td>
<td><SPAN href="#image4">448</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>468.—Form derived from a horn spoon</td>
<td><SPAN href="#image5">448</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>469.—Form derived from a bark vessel</td>
<td><SPAN href="#image6">446</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>470.—Form derived from basketry</td>
<td><SPAN href="#image7">449</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>471.—Form derived from basketry</td>
<td><SPAN href="#image8">449</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>472.—Form derived from a wooden vessel</td>
<td><SPAN href="#image9">449</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>473.—Coincident forms</td>
<td><SPAN href="#image10">451</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>474.—Form produced by accident</td>
<td><SPAN href="#image11">451</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>475.—Scroll derived from the spire of a conch shell</td>
<td><SPAN href="#image12">454</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>476.—Theoretical development of current scroll</td>
<td><SPAN href="#image13">455</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>477.—Ornament derived through modification of handles</td>
<td><SPAN href="#image14">455</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>478.—Scroll derived from coil of clay</td>
<td><SPAN href="#image15">456</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>479.—Ornamental use of fillets of clay</td>
<td><SPAN href="#image16">456</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>480.—Variation through, the influence of form</td>
<td><SPAN href="#image17">459</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>481.—Theoretical development of the current scroll</td>
<td><SPAN href="#image18">460</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>482.—Forms of the same motive expressed in different arts</td>
<td><SPAN href="#image19">461</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>483.—Forms of the same motive expressed in different arts</td>
<td><SPAN href="#image20">461</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>484.—Forms of the same motive expressed in different arts</td>
<td><SPAN href="#image21">461</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>485.—Geometric form of textile ornament</td>
<td><SPAN href="#image22">462</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>486.—Loss of geometric accuracy in painting</td>
<td><SPAN href="#image23">462</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>487.—Design painted upon pottery</td>
<td><SPAN href="#image24">463</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>488.—Theoretical development of fret work</td>
<td><SPAN href="#image25">464</SPAN></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>489.—Theoretical development of scroll work</td>
<td><SPAN href="#image26">465</SPAN></td>
</tr>
</table>
<hr style="width: 95%;" />
<p><!-- Page 442 --><SPAN name="page442" id="page442"></SPAN></p>
<p><!-- Page 443 --><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page443" id="page443">[Pg 443]</SPAN></span></p>
<h2>ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF FORM AND ORNAMENT IN CERAMIC ART.</h2>
<hr />
<h2><span class="smcap">By William H. Holmes.</span></h2>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2>INTRODUCTORY.</h2>
<p>For the investigation of art in its early stages and in its widest
sense—there is probably no fairer field than that afforded by
aboriginal America, ancient and modern.</p>
<p>At the period of discovery, art at a number of places on the American
continent seems to have been developing surely and steadily, through the
force of the innate genius of the race, and the more advanced nations
were already approaching the threshold of civilization; at the same time
their methods were characterized by great simplicity, and their art
products are, as a consequence, exceptionally homogeneous.</p>
<p>The advent of European civilization checked the current of growth, and
new and conflicting elements were introduced necessarily disastrous to
the native development.</p>
<p>There is much, however, in the art of living tribes, especially of those
least influenced by the whites, capable of throwing light upon the
obscure passages of precolumbian art. By supplementing the study of the
prehistoric by that of historic art, which is still in many cases in its
incipient stages, we may hope to penetrate deeply into the secrets of
the past.</p>
<p>The advantages of this field, as compared with Greece, Egypt, and the
Orient, will be apparent when we remember that the dawn of art in these
countries lies hidden in the shadow of unnumbered ages, while ours
stands out in the light of the very present. This is well illustrated by
a remark of Birch, who, in dwelling upon the antiquity of the fictile
art, says that "the existence of earthen vessels in Egypt was at least
coeval with the formation of a written language."<SPAN name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></SPAN><SPAN href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</SPAN> Beyond this there
is acknowledged chaos. In strong contrast with this, is the fact that
all precolumbian American pottery <i>precedes</i> the acquisition of written
language, and this contrast is emphasized by the additional fact that it
also antedates the use of the wheel, that great perverter of the plastic
tendencies of clay.</p>
<p><!-- Page 444 --><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page444" id="page444">[Pg 444]</SPAN></span>
The material presented in the following notes is derived chiefly from
the native ceramic art of the United States, but the principles involved
are applicable to all times and to all art, as they are based upon the
laws of nature.</p>
<p>Ceramic art presents two classes of phenomena of importance in the study
of the evolution of æsthetic culture. These relate, first, to <i>form</i>,
and second, to <i>ornament</i>.</p>
<p><i>Form</i>, as embodied in clay vessels, embraces, 1st, <i>useful shapes</i>,
which may or may not be ornamental, and, 2d, <i>æsthetic shapes</i>, which
are ornamental and may be useful. There are also <i>grotesque</i> and
<i>fanciful shapes</i>, which may or may not be either useful or ornamental.</p>
<p>No form or class of forms can be said to characterize a particular age
or stage of culture. In a general way, of course, the vessels of
primitive peoples will be simple in form, while those of more advanced
races will be more varied and highly specialized.</p>
<p>The shapes first assumed by vessels in clay depend upon the shape of the
vessels employed at the time of the introduction of the art, and these
depend, to a great extent, upon the kind and grade of culture of the
people acquiring the art and upon the resources of the country in which
they live. To illustrate: If, for instance, some of the highly advanced
Alaskan tribes which do not make pottery should migrate to another
habitat, less suitable to the practice of their old arts and well
adapted to art in clay, and should there acquire the art of pottery,
they would doubtless, to a great extent, copy their highly developed
utensils of wood, bone, ivory, and basketry, and thus reach a high grade
of ceramic achievement in the first century of the practice of the art;
but, on the other hand, if certain tribes, very low in intelligence and
having no vessel-making arts, should undergo a corresponding change of
habitat and acquire the art of pottery, they might not reach in a
thousand years, if left to themselves, a grade in the art equal to that
of the hypothetical Alaskan potters in the first decade. It is,
therefore, not the age of the art itself that determines its forms, but
the grade and kind of art with which it originates and coexists.</p>
<p><i>Ornament</i> is subject to similar laws. Where pottery is employed by
peoples in very low stages of culture, its ornamentation will be of the
simple archaic kind. Being a conservative art and much hampered by the
restraints of convention, the elementary forms of ornament are carried a
long way into the succeeding periods and have a very decided effect upon
the higher stages. Pottery brought into use for the first time by more
advanced races will never pass through the elementary stage of
decoration, but will take its ornament greatly from existing art and
carry this up in its own peculiar way through succeeding generations.
The character of the ornamentation does not therefore depend upon the
age of the art so much as upon the acquirements of the potter and his
people in other arts.</p>
<div class="footnote"><p><SPAN name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></SPAN><SPAN href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></SPAN> Birch: History of Ancient Pottery, 1873, p. 8.</p>
</div>
<p><!-- Page 445 --><span class="pagenum"><SPAN name="page445" id="page445">[Pg 445]</SPAN></span></p>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />