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202 SECRETS OF EARTH AND SEA 



The contrast is well shown in the two renderings of 

 one and the same " pattern," shown in A and B of Fig. 49. 

 A is the rectilinear angular decorative design which is 

 known as the "Greek key pattern," whilst the scroll 

 below it is the "curvilinear" treatment of the same 

 subject. The first takes its rectilinear character from 

 a structure built up of hard blocklike pieces; the other 

 is the flowing, easily moving line of a brush laying on 

 paint, or of a style moving over clay or soft wax. The 

 contrast is the same as that of the capital letters of the 

 Roman alphabet, as used in print, with their equivalents 



in " copper - plate," 

 cursive handwriting. 

 A , Another pair of 



tendencies opposed 

 to each other which 

 have much signifi- 

 B cance in the explan- 

 ation of decorative 

 Fig. 49. — The Greek Key pattern in A rect- (Jesien is the ten- 

 angular, and B curvilinear or "current" , . ... 

 fgj^ dency to convert the 



simple lines of an 

 original design into a drawing representing some animal 

 or plant shape. At the end of the last chapter I dis- 

 tinguished this as the " naturalizing " tendency, contrast- 

 ing it with the grammatizing or simplifying tendency. 

 A good example of it is seen in Fig. 50. In A of that 

 figure we see a circle divided into three cones by curved 

 lines ; this is a known design. It is called a " triskelion " 

 (meaning a three-legged figure), or is more correctly 

 termed "a three-branched scroll." The curves are con- 

 verted into angles and straight lines in B, and then the 

 stiff rectilinear "triskelion" is subsequently developed into 

 three human legs, as shown in C, Fig. 50. It is naturalized. 

 Were the change to proceed in the other way from the 



