KERAMIC STUDIO 
V 
manded the markets of the ancient world and are treasures 
in the art collections of to-day. We have then, to study- 
shape and contrast, harmony and variety, and in all cases, aes- 
thetically, an effect that will delight the mind through the 
eye. And whatever other principle we may sacrifice, a good 
effect must be obtained. Use what symbols we will, they 
must be made subject to the principles of design or the result 
will be a mere crudity in art. The ornamental principle of 
symmetry may be introduced in pictorial art, in which case 
the picture becomes an ornamental design. Most of the pic- 
tures in the early epochs of art were so treated, of which 
Giotto's frescos furnish a good example. Any picture com- 
posed merely on principles of symmetry and contrast becomes 
an ornament. Any ornamental design in which these two 
principles of symmetry and contrast have been made sub- 
servient to naturalistic arrangement or mere imitation, has de- 
parted from the province of ornament into that of picture- 
making. 
♦ 
The very principles of nature are frustrated when you 
represent a natural form in a natural manner and yet apply it to 
uses with which it has, in nature, no affinity whatever. "One 
is apt to act on the general theory that nature is beautiful," 
says Warnum, "and therefore ornamental details derived im- 
mediately from nature must ensure beautiful designs, whereas, 
the truth is directly contrary to this. Natural objects must 
be made to conform to artificial shapes, or more or less con- 
ventional lines." 
Sometimes the natural object itself is made erroneous use 
of — and this is one of the most fatal abuses of nature. A man's 
head for a beer mug, a boot as a match box, a basket form to 
hold a liquid, the half of a hen as an egg dish, etc. There is 
a very great difference between ornamenting a utensil with 
natural objects and substituting these natural objects for the 
utensil itself. In the latter case, however true the detail to 
nature, the design is utterly false. In all true ornament art 
must aid nature, the natural and the artificial must be com- 
bined. The Italian Trecento is a good example of mixing 
conventional flowers and foliage with tracery and geometrical 
design. 
In no worthy style of ornament have natural details ever 
yet prevailed. The details of all great styles are largely de- 
rived from nature, but are ahvays conventionally treated, and 
theory and experience seem to show that this is the true sys- 
tem. A plant is said to be conventionally treated when the 
natural order of its growth or development is disregarded. 
When both of these are observed the treatment is natural 
and so can only be a picture or a model and not an ornament. 
To be an ornament or a design it must be applied as an acces- 
sory decoration to something else — it must cover or fill a 
definite space. There can be no question that the motive of 
ornament is not the representation of natural images to the 
mind but the rendering the object ornamented as agreeable as 
possible and therefore the details of decoration should have 
no independent character of their own, but be kept purely 
subservient to beauty of effect — and this cannot be thorough- 
ly or satisfactorily done without adopting conventional 
arrangement whether flowers, foliage, figure or what not. 
♦ 
The designer must ever remember that the effect of the 
whole should never be interfered with by attraction to detail. 
As soon as you lose sight of the zvlioje the ornament may 
become a work of art but not a decoration. An artist may be 
capable of producing perfect forms and colors and yet show 
the grossest ignorance of arrangement and application, deco- 
ratively speaking. A power of exact imitation of natural 
objects is quite compatible with a total ignorance of orna- 
mental art. The Egyptians are eminent for the adaptation 
and conventional treatment of their local natural types, such 
as the lotus, the scarabseus, etc. Their arrangements are 
almost exclusively a mere symmetrical repetition of motifs. 
Geometric figures are well used where emphatic flatness is 
required, such as wall or floor patterns, etc., thus adhering to 
fitness in design. The covering of only portions of a place 
requires far higher ornamental ability than is involved in an 
"all over" pattern, here space relations must be considered — 
variety, contrast, proportion and sympathy of line, all come 
into play. The principles applicable to one article may be 
quite the reverse of those applicable to another, however, and 
it is the designer's place to suffer no mere ornamental predi- 
lection to interfere with the practical excellence of his design, 
and above all things to remember that special attraction to 
secondary details is not a merit but a capital defect in design. 
I am indebted for suggestion upon these principles which 
I would both pratice and advocate to R. N. Wornum and J. 
Ward in their late works on ornament. 
The Rookwood pottery was established by Maria Long- 
worth Nichols, now the wife of Bellamy Storer, who was re- 
cently appointed minister to Spain. Perched on one of the 
great hills overlooking the smoky city, it is one of the pictur- 
esque bits of Cincinnati, while its products have spread the 
fame of the city in art circles: 
