HOLMES.] GEOMETRIC CHAKACTEl; OK ( (II.OK PHKXOMEXA. 21") 



semilunar figures represent iiit;- luuiiau faces are stitelied, covering 

 the surface in horizontal rnws. To the center of these rosette-like 

 jiai-ts rlnstiTs (if tassi'ls (if varyiiiii' si/.cs a ro attached. The fringe, 

 which is I wciitx' iiirlifs (li-cp. is r(iiii|M,s(Ml entirely of long strings of 

 tassels, the larii'er tassels supporting chisters (jf smaller ones. There 

 are upwards of three thousand tassels, the round heads of which are 

 in many cases woven in colors, ridges, and nodes to represent the 

 hiiman featiires. The general color of the garment, which is of fine, 

 silky wool, is a rich crimson. The illustration can convey only a hint 

 of tlie complexity and beauty of the original. 



We have now seen how varied and how striking are the surface char- 

 acters of fabrics as expressed by the third dimension, by variation 

 from a flat, featureless surface, and how all. essential and ornamental, 

 are governed by the laws of geometric combination. We shall now 

 see how these are related to color phenomena. 



COLOR PHENOMENA. 



Ordinary feafures. — In describing the constructive characters of 

 fabrics and the attendant surface phenomena, I called attention to 

 the fact that a greater part of the design manifested is enforced 

 and supplemented by color, which gives new meaning to every 

 feature. Color elements are present in the art from its very incep- 

 tion, and many simple patterns appear as accidents of textile aggre- 

 gation long before the weaver or the possessor recognizes them as 

 pleasing to the eye. When, finally, they are so recognized and a de- 

 sire for greater elaboration springs up, the textile construction lends 

 itself readily to the new office and under the esthetic forces brings 

 about wonderfiil results without interfering in the least with the 

 technical perfection of the articles embellished. But coloi' is not 

 confined to the mere emphasizing of figures already expressed in re- 

 lief. It is capable of advancin.i;- alone into newfields, producing pat- 

 terns and desi,i;iis ecinijilex in arraiinenient and varied in hue, and 

 that, too, without altering the .simple, monotonous succession of re- 

 lievo characters. 



In color, as in relieved design, each species of constructive combi- 

 nation gives rise to more or less distinrt gr(ai|)s of decorative I'esults, 

 which often become the distin-nishin- .-liaiactei-istics of tliewoi'kof 

 difi'erent peoples and the jtrogeuitors of long lines of distinctions in 

 national decorative conceptions. 



In addition to this apparently limitless capacity for exjiression. 

 lovers of textile illumination have the whole series of extra.inlinary 

 resources furnishe.] by expedients n..1 essential to oi-dinai-y construc- 

 tion, the cliaracter and scope of which have been dwelt upon to some 

 extent in the preceding section. 



I have already spoken ot color in a general way. as to its necessary 

 presence in art. its artificial a]ii>licatioii t<i fabrics and fabric mate- 



