28 LAUFER, THE DECORATIVE ART OF THE AMUR TRIBES. 



blue ; the two under border-lines, blue and red. In the centre we see two roosters 

 with distinctly marked heads and eyes. The body is symbolized by a band- 

 spiral which starts from a circle in the centre. The neck is a continuation of the 

 border-line running parallel to the winding of this spiral. To the beak of each 

 rooster is attached a spiral wound to the right, the termination of which is made 

 into a bird s beak with a circle just like the central spiral. Above it is a conven 

 tionalized fish with distinct tail ; and below it a scroll rolled into a beak at the 

 end, with a circle at its tip. Particularly worthy of note is the abrupt manner in 

 which the well-executed head of a cock, with the usual oval object in front of it, is 

 placed under the scroll to the right, another evidence of the fact that any spiral 

 can be made to symbolize a cock s body. 



Fig. 3, Plate x, represents an embroidery on the upper part of a pair of leg 

 gings made of Chinese silk. The background consists of black silk cloth (hatched 

 in the drawing), the spaces between the embroidered lines being covered with 

 white silk. This design is mainly filled up with two opposite swans fashioned 

 like cocks, the long arched necks running parallel to their oval-shaped bodies. 

 The heads, treated in the form of scrolls, are turned away from each other, and 

 are provided with beaks stretched outward. Each body is divided into halves 

 for the purpose of ornamentation. In the outer half are designed neck and head 

 of a cock, a circle in front of the latter ; the inner halves are formed of simply- 

 wound spirals. Between the two halves is inserted a conventionalized fish, which 

 continues above into another, tripartite fish, standing upright. It is an example 

 of the same kind of opposite fishes rampant as in Figs, i and 9 (pp. 16, 18), and 

 frequently elsewhere. The ornament is bordered above by a spur-line embroidered 

 in green. On the upper edge are represented triskeles, singly and combined. 



Fig. 4, Plate x, represents part of an ornament embroidered on a girdle of 

 black velvet, out of which the patterns are cut. The edge of the velvet is seamed 

 with chain-stitching. The threads selected are all of dull colors. All negative 

 parts are filled up with light yellow cloth (hatched in the drawing) ; the positive 

 ornament, therefore, is formed by the cut velvet parts. It is a device composed 

 of a succession of two different figures, one of which has a circular form, the other 

 an ellipsoidal. Complete symmetry is carried out inside of these figures on either 

 side, as well as above and below. The velvet, being a somewhat stiff and un 

 handy material, is not favorable to the formation of lines, and thus a degree of 

 conventionalization is attained that makes the development of the ornament in 

 the oval drawing hardly recognizable. What we observe are a fish-tail, an oval 

 body, and a figure distributed symmetrically on both sides, in which, as a rule, the 

 beaks of the opposite cocks are united. If we take for granted that the cock s 

 head is in this part, its tail must needs be recognized in the fish-tail, which occurs 

 not rarely. If, however, which is also possible, we see the cock s head in the 

 smaller, under branch of the fish-tail, and attribute to the larger branch perhaps 

 the hint of a wing-feather, then we have here also the type of the opposite cocks, 

 as in Figs, i, 2, etc. It is therefore possible to recognize in this case the head of 



