152 
THE ORIGIN OF DECORATIVE ART. 
July, 1890. 
the whole animal might be represented by carving, and that, 
therefore, any substance which was easy to work could be 
fashioned into the desired shape. In this manner we can see 
how the art of carving models of animals and men and other 
objects probably grew up by easy stages from the very simplest 
beginnings. 
We see traces of this piece of history in the every-day life 
of savages. Savages are devout Nature-worshippers, and any 
real or fancied resemblance to some favourite object in nature 
is readily appreciated and made use of; it even bids fair to 
raise the object whose form suggests the resemblance to the 
dignity of a fetich. 
Most savages are in the habit of making realistic or would- 
be realistic models of animals and men in a variety of sub¬ 
stances, of which wood and clay are the chief. The former, 
no doubt, more often offers accidental resemblances to 
objects in nature, while the latter, owing to its plastic nature, 
is readily moulded into any shape, and lends itself to the 
purpose. 
However rude these representations may be, the intention 
is realistic and the greater or less resemblance to nature is 
only a question of skill. But want of skill may of itself tend 
to alter the character of such designs. Imperfect realism 
readily degenerates into the “ grotesque,” and this may 
partly account for the great prevalence of fanciful representa¬ 
tion of objects among so many savage peoples. The study of 
the grotesque is reduced to a science among many races, 
the Maoris of New Zealand and the natives of New Guinea, 
for example. Another reason for the great affinity for the 
grotesque is that under this form more or less symbolic 
designs may be made use of with highly decorative effect. 
But realistic art in carving may tend to become fanciful 
or conventional in other ways, and for other reasons. When 
once the idea of carving representations of natural objects 
had been arrived at and become rooted, any object whose 
form was suitable for shaping into a model would be liable to 
be so used. The handle of a tool or weapon might offer a 
surface to which the carving of some animal or part of an 
animal might be applied. This is a step towards conventional 
representation. It is not necessary that the artist should 
intend to decorate the implement. In this case the primary 
idea is to create a portrait; the secondary result is the embel¬ 
lishment of the handle, though the design is not modified 
to serve as ornament. We constantly see the extremities of 
the ivory implements of the Esquimaux carved into realistic 
representations of animals’ heads, which are as true to nature 
