THE SCIENCE OF ART FORM. 



687 



-Prof a- 



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the different parts are distinguished: the neck from the body of 

 the vessel, and the body of the 

 vessel from the foot. Two fil- 

 lets are also very appropriately 

 put where the vessel is largest, 

 and where they seem to convey 

 a sense of increased strength 

 exactly where the pressure is 

 greatest. You will find all the 

 way through the study of orna- 

 ment that utility, or use, is a 

 fundamental principle which 

 can not be violated without im- 

 pairing beauty. 



Before presenting objects 

 for comparison it may be well 

 to pass in review the elements 

 which compose all objects. 

 Decoration is the application of ornament to form. It therefore 

 presupposes knowledge of both form and ornament, for form must 

 be understood by itself, and or- 

 nament by itself, before the 

 proper ornament may be se- 

 lected for the given form. The 

 elements of form are length, 

 breadth, and thickness. A math- 

 ematical point is conceived to 

 have no dimensions, a mathe- 

 matical line but one, and a math- 

 ematical plane but two. But in 

 actuality there is no tangible ob- 

 ject without the third dimension 

 — thickness. Still, where two 

 dimensions are very much more 

 prominent than the third — as, 

 for instance, in a plaque, in the 

 side of a room, in a single eleva- 

 tion of a building, or whenever 

 merely the surface of an object 

 is viewed — the third dimension 

 may be left out of considera- 

 tion. Lines and the surfaces 

 they bound — that is, length and breadth 

 form which play the chief part in decoration. 



Fict. 



-are the two elements of 



