238 TEXTILE ART IN RELATION TO FORM AND ORNAMENT

oftliisalmostuniversally iiracticcdart

upon

the wIkjIbl)0(lyofdeco- rative design.

That

the raugeof resultsproduced

by

varying^stylesof

weaving and

of

woven

objects

may

beajJiJreciated, Ijjresent

some

additional exam2)les. Coiled wares,for instance,present decorativeiilien(jmena strikingly atvariance with thoseiu

which

thereisa rectangular disposition of parts. Insteadofthe

two

or

more

interlacingseries, of parallelfilletsexhibitedinthelatterstyle,

we have

oneradiate

and

oneconcentricseries.

The

effectof thisarrangement

upon

the

Fir i44Hu.i] (lifledby execut laued styl

introduced

human

figureisverystiiking, as

m

illbe seen

by

reference to

Fig

344,

which

represents alai^etiavol)tained

from

the

Moki

Indians

Thefi^un

]n<ibibl\11pi(mnis

nm

of themythologicper- sonagesottilt ^"\1 II

I iiitlii HI 1s 111 till1wiseimportantpriestly functionan \\i iiin.,tin ⁱliiiKtttistK Inidilressofthe

ceremony

in

which

the jilaquea\as tobe used

The

\\oikisexecutedinwicker, stained

m

such bright tintsas

weie

consideied appropriatetothe variousteatuies ofthe(fistume

Reteiimg m

^{detail tothe shape}

and an

angeinentofthejiaitsotth< hi;uiL itisapparentthat

many

BOLMEs]

GEOMETRIC AND GKAPHIC FORMS CONTRASTEO.

2.39 ofthe remai'kablefeaturesareduetoconstructivepeculiarities.

The round

face, forexample, does notrefer tothesun or the

moon,

but results

from

the concentric weaving.

The

oblique eyes

have no

re- ference toa

Mongolian

origin,asthey only follow thedirection of theray

upon which

theyarewoven,

and

the headdressdoesnotrefer tothe

rainbow

or the aurora because it isarched, butisarchedbe- cause the construction forced itinto this shape.

The

proportionof thefigureisnotsovery

bad

becaiisethe

Moki

artistdid not

know

better,but because the surfaceofthetray didnotafford

room

to pro- jectthe

body and

limbs

Fig.345.Figureofabird paintedupon aZuiiishield, freehanddeli

Now,

it

may

be further observed that

had

thefigurebeen placed atonesideofthecenter,extending only

from

thebordertothemid- dleofthetray,

an

entirelydifl'erentresult

would have

been^reacheil;

butthisisbetter illustrated inaseries ofbirddelineationspresented inthefollowingfigures.

With many

tribesthe birdis

an

object of superstitious interest

and

isintroducedfreelyintoall artproducts suitable foritsdelineation. It is

drawn

ujidu walls, skins,jidtti'ry.

and

variousutensils

and

weapons,especiallythosedirectlyr<iinifcteil with ceremoniesin

which

theinythicalbirdisan important factor.

The

Ijird

form was

probablyinfamiliaruselong beforeit

was em-

ployedinthe decorationofbasketry. InFig.345 Ipresent

an

ordi-

240

^IN

RELATION

T( >KM

AND ORNAMENT.

nary graphicrepresentation. It iscopied

from

a^Zuflishield

and

is the deviceofan orderorthe totemofaclan.

The

styleisquite con- ventional, asaresultofthe variousconstraintssurroundingitspro- duction.

But what

a strange metamorphosis takesplace

when

it is presentedinthe basketmaker's language. Observe the conventional pattern

shown upon

thesurface ofa

Moki

tray(Fii;-. :Ui;).

We

have difficultyin recognizingthebirdatall.al1li<iui;li thecnuceptionis identicalwiththe preceding.

The

posititjusufthehead

and

legs

and

'^

jJniiiiiiliiil

Fig.:«().Figureofabirii\ iii i 1nil tray, textiledelineation.

the

expanded

wings

and

tailr

oiuspond

as closely as possible,but delineation is

hampered

h^ ttLlinique

The

peculiar construction barely permits the presentationofa recognizablelifeform,

and

per- mitsitinaparticularway.

which

willbe understood

by

a compari- son withthetreatment..f"the

human

fl,i;ureinFi.i;-.344. ^"Inthat case IlieinUTla.-.Mlc.inl.inati.in-ivesivli, .v..results,chararterize.lliywide.

radiating rihs and narrow, ineimsjiiendus.edneentrielines,

which

crosstheribs inlong steps.

The power

ofexpressionliesalmost wholly with theconcentx'icseries,

and

detail

must

ina great

measure

follow theconcentriclines. In the presentcase (Fig. 346) thisis re- versed

and

lines

employed

inexpressingformsare radiate.

The

preciseeffectof this difference ofconstruction

upon

aparticu-

VARIOUS CAUSKS OF

JIODIFICATIO 2l\

larfeature

may

^{be sliuwnliy tlic}intrdiluctidiinrjiiintlici-illustratinu.

IllFig-.o4?

we have

^al.inl

wnvm

^{ina haskrt<,ftin'}interlacedstyle.

We

^seewith

what

easethelungsliar]) bill

and

the slender tongues (shown liya red filament

between

the

two

dark mandibles)are ex- pressed. In the othercasethe constructiouissuch that thebill,if extended iuthe

normal

direction,isbroad

and

s(]ii;ir('atthe end.

and

thetongue,instead oflyingl)etweenthemandibli's.must runacross thebill,totally atvariancewith the truth;in this casethetongue issorepresented,thelight vertical

band

seeninthe cutbeing a yellow stiipe. Itwill1)6seen that the

two

representationsarevery unlike eachother,notbecauseofdifferences intheconception

and

notwholly on accountotthe style otweaving, butlathei because the artist chosetoextend(mearioss tlu^^hole sulfateoftheutensil

and

to confine theotliiito out sidi ⁱttin iintci

It ISdeal,theietoie. tioin the inLtedui..; obsel^dtlolls that the con- ventionof

woven

lite toims

vanes

with the kindofAveavmg, with theshapeoftheobject,with theposition

upon

theobject,

and

with the sha[)e ofthespace(jccupied,aswell aswith theinherited style of

treat

ment and

withthecapacityoftheartistconcerned. Thesev'aried forces

and

influencesuniteinthemetamorpliosisofallthe

incoming

elementsof textileembellishment.

Itwillbeof interest to

examine somewhat

closely the mollifications

ETH

IG