176 AXCIKNT AKT OK TIIK !> 



jaws are without t( etli tin lit id i^ w 

 indication of scales Tin uiln i i \ i 

 different type and nia\ p<issilil\ n t 



( V^K. 



iiiKivur. 



nd the body without 

 ■4) is of a somewhat 

 her reptilian form. 



I rbe aUif,ator much mixlified 



hut many links connecting the two are foiiud. The shape is more 

 angular and is a step further removed from nature. From shapes as 

 ciiuvcntional as this we drop readily into purrly ,:;f(iiiLfti'ic forms, as 

 will he seen further on. These and the i)reci-iliiii;- drawings are all 

 executed on broad surfaces, where fancy coidil li,-i\-i' tree play. The 

 modifying or conventionalizing forces are, therefore, quite vague. 

 Variation from natural forms is due partly to a lack of skill on the 

 part of the painter, partly to the peculiar demands of ceramic em- 

 bellishment, and partly to the traditional style of treatment acquired 

 in still more primitive stages of culture and in other and unidentified 

 branches of art. 



I shall now call attention tu some important individualized or well 

 defined agencies of convention. First, and most potent, may be men- 

 tioned the enforced limits of the spaces to be decorated, which spaces 

 take .shape independently of the subject to be inserted. When the 

 figures must occupy a narrow zone they are elongated, when they 

 must occupy a square they are restricted longitudinally, and when 

 tiiey must occupy a circle they are of necessity coiled up. Fig. 365 



