holmes.] ORIGIN OF ORNAMENT. 457 



ures as nets and wicker baskets. The twisting, interlacing, knotting, 

 and stitching of filaments give relieved figures that by contact in man- 

 ufacture impress themselves upon the plastic clay. Such impressions 

 come in time to be regarded as pleasing features, and when free-hand 

 methods of reproducing are finally acquired they and their derivatives 

 become essentials of decoration. At a later stage these characters of 

 basketry influence ceramic decoration in a somewhat different way. By 

 the use of variously-colored fillets the woven surface displays figures in 

 color corresponding to those in relief and varying with every new com- 

 bination. Many striking patterns are thus produced, and the potter 

 who has learned to decorate his wares by the stylus or brush repro- 

 duces these patterns by free-hand methods. We find pottery in all 

 countries ornamented with patterns, painted, incised, stamped, and re- 

 lieved, certainly derived from this source. So well is this fact known 

 that I need hardly go into details. 



In the higher stages of art the constructional characters of architec- 

 ture give rise to many notions of decoration which afterwards descend 

 to other arts, taking greatly divergent forms. Aboriginal architecture 

 in some parts of America had reached a development capable of wield- 

 ing a strong influence. This is not true, however, of any part of the 

 United States. 



SUGGESTIONS OF ACCIDENTS. 



Besides the suggestions of surface features impressed in manufac- 

 ture or intentionally copied as indicated above, we have also those of ac- 

 cidental imprints of implements or of the fingers in manufacture. From 

 this source there are necessarily many suggestions of ornament, at first 

 of indented figures, but later, after long employment, extending to the 

 other modes of representation. 



IDEOGRAPHIC AND PICTORIAL SUBJECTS. 



Non-ideographic forms of ornament may originate in ideographic feat- 

 ures, mnemonic, demonstrative, or symbolic. Such significant figures 

 are borrowed by decorators from other branches of art. As time goes 

 on they lose their significance and are subsequently treated as purely 

 decorative elements. Subjects wholly pictorial in character, when such 

 come to be made, may also be used as simple decoration, and by long 

 processes of convention become geometric. 



The exact amount of significance still attached to significant figures 

 after adoption into decoration cannot be determined except in cases of 

 actual identification by living peoples, and even when the signification is 

 known by the more learned individuals the decorator may be wholly 

 without knowledge of it. 



