456 



FORM AND ORNAMENT IN CERAMIC ART. 



by modification in frequent* copying, a mere band of ornamental figures 

 in relief, or even finally in engraved, punctured, or painted lines, in the 

 manner suggested in Fig. 477. Legs, pedestals, spouts, and other feat- 

 ures may in a like manner give rise to decoration. 



Constructional features. — Features of vessels resulting from construc- 

 tion are infinitely varied and often highly suggestive of decoration. 

 Constructional peculiarities of the clay utensils themselves are espe- 

 cially worthy of notice, and on account of their actual presence in the 

 art itself are more likely to be utilized or copied for ceramic ornament 

 than those of other materials. The coil, so universally employed in con- 

 struction, has had a decided influence upon the ceramic decoration of 

 certain peoples, as I have shown in a paper on ancient Pueblo art. 

 From it we have not only a great variety of surface ornamentation pro- 

 duced by simple treatment of the coil in place, but probably many 

 forms suggested by the use of the coil in vessel building,«s, for instance, 

 the spiral formed in beginning the base of a coiled vessel, Fig. 478 a, 



a.— Coiled fillet of clay. 6.— Double coil. 



Fig. 478. — Scroll derived from coil of clay. 



from which the double scroll b, as a separate feature, could readily be 

 derived, and finally the chain of scrolls so often seen in border and zone 

 decoration. This familiarity with the use of fillets or ropes of clay 

 would also lead to a great variety of applied ornament, examples of 

 which, from Pueblo art, are given in Fig. 479. The sinuous forms as- 



Fici. 479.— Ornamental nse of fillets. 



sumed by a rope of clay so employed would readily suggest to the 

 Indian the form of the serpent and the means of representing it, and 

 might thus lead to the introduction of this much revered creature into 

 art. 



Of the various classes of uteusils associated closely with the ceramic 

 art, there are none so characteristically marked by constructional feat- 



