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Form and Ornament in Ceramic Art

<h2>ORIGIN OF FORM</h2> In order to convey a clear idea of the bearing of the preceding statements upon the history of form and ornament, it will be necessary to present a number of points in greater detail. The following synopsis will give a connected view of various possible origins of form. <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" border="0" summary="origin of form"> <tr> <td>Origin of form—</td> <td style="font-size: 34pt;" valign="top">{</td> <td>By adventition. By imitation——— By invention.</td> <td style="font-size: 20pt;">{</td> <td>Of natural models. Of artificial models</td> </tr> </table> <h4>FORMS SUGGESTED BY ADVENTITION.</h4> The suggestions of accident, especially in the early stages of art, are often adopted, and become fruitful sources of improvement and progress. By such means the use of clay was discovered and the ceramic art came into existence. The accidental indentation of a mass of clay by the foot, or hand, or by a fruit-shell, or stone, while serving as an auxiliary in some simple art, may have suggested the making of a cup, the simplest form of vessel. The use of clay as a cement in repairing utensils, in protecting combustible vessels from injury by fire, or in building up the walls of shallow vessels, may also have led to the formation of disks or cups, afterwards independently constructed. In any case the objects or utensils with which the clay was associated in its earliest use would impress their forms upon it. Thus, if clay were used in deepening or mending vessels of stone by a given people, it would, when used independently by that people, tend to assume shapes suggested by stone vessels. The same may be said of its use in connection with wood and wicker, or with vessels of other materials. Forms of vessels so derived may be said to have an adventitious origin, yet they are essentially copies, although not so by design, and may as readily be placed under the succeeding head. <h4>FORMS DERIVED BY IMITATION.</h4> Clay has no inherent qualities of a nature to impose a given form or class of forms upon its products, as have wood, bark, bone, or stone. It is so mobile as to be quite free to take form from surroundings, and where extensively used will record or echo a vast deal of nature and of coexistent art. In this observation we have a key that will unlock many of the mysteries of form. In the investigation of this point it will be necessary to consider the processes by which an art inherits or acquires the forms of another art or of nature, and how one material imposes its peculiarities upon another material. In early stages of culture the processes of art are closely akin to those of nature, the human agent hardly ranking as more than [Pg 446] a part of the environment. The primitive artist does not proceed by methods identical with our own. He does not deliberately and freely examine all departments of nature or art and select for models those things most convenient or most agreeable to fancy; neither does he experiment with the view of inventing new forms. What he attempts depends almost absolutely upon what happens to be suggested by preceding forms, and so narrow and so direct are the processes of his mind that, knowing his resources, we could closely predict his results. The range of models in the ceramic art is at first very limited, and includes only those utensils devoted to the particular use to which the clay vessels are to be applied; later, closely-associated objects and utensils are copied. In the first stages of art, when the savage makes a weapon, he modifies or copies a weapon; when he makes a vessel, he modifies or copies a vessel. This law holds good in an inverse ratio to culture, varying to a certain extent with the character of the material used. Natural originals.—Natural originals, both animal and vegetable, necessarily differ with the country and the climate, thus giving rise to individual characters in art forms often extremely persistent and surviving decided changes of environment. The gourd is probably the most varied and suggestive natural vessel. We find that the primitive potter has often copied it in the most literal manner. One example only, out of the many available ones, is necessary. This is from a mound in southeastern Missouri. In Fig. 464, a illustrates a common form of the gourd, while b represents the imitation in clay. <div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image1.jpg" width-obs="450" height-obs="254" alt="a, Gourd. b, Clay vessel. Fig. 464.—Form derived from a gourd." title="a, Gourd. b, Clay vessel. Fig. 464.—Form derived from a gourd." /> Fig. 464.—Form derived from a gourd. </div> All nations situated upon the sea or upon large rivers use shells of mollusks, which, without modification, make excellent receptacles for water and food. Imitations of these are often found among the products of the potter's art. A good example from the Mississippi Valley is shown in Fig. 465, a being the original and b the copy in clay. In Africa, and in other countries, such natural objects as cocoanut shells, and ostrich eggs are used in like manner. [Pg 447] Another class of vessels, those made from the skins, bladders, and stomachs of animals, should also be mentioned in this connection, as it is certain that their influence has frequently been felt in the conformation of earthen utensils. In searching nature, therefore, for originals of primitive ceramic forms we have little need of going outside of objects that in their natural or slightly altered state are available for vessels. <div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image2.jpg" width-obs="450" height-obs="123" alt="a, Shell. b, Clay. Fig. 465.—Form derived from a conch shell." title="a, Shell. b, Clay. Fig. 465.—Form derived from a conch shell." /> Fig. 465.—Form derived from a conch shell. </div> True, other objects have been copied. We find a multitude of the higher natural forms, both animal and vegetable, embodied in vessels of clay, but their presence is indicative of a somewhat advanced stage of art, when the copying of vessels that were functionally proper antecedents had given rise to a familiarity with the use of clay and a capacity in handling it that, with advancing culture, brought all nature within the reach of the potter and made it assist in the processes of variation and development. Artificial originals.—There is no doubt that among most peoples art had produced vessels in other materials antecedent to the utilization of clay. These would be legitimate models for the potter and we may therefore expect to find them repeated in earthenware. In this way the art has acquired a multitude of new forms, some of which may be natural forms at second hand, that is to say, with modifications imposed upon them by the material in which they were first shaped. But all materials other than clay are exceedingly intractable, and impress their own characters so decidedly upon forms produced in them that ultimate originals, where there are such, cannot often be traced through them. It will be most interesting to note the influence of these peculiarities of originals upon the ceramic art. A nation having stone vessels, like those of California, on acquiring the art of pottery would use the stone vessels as models, and such forms as that given in Fig. 466 would arise, a being in stone and b in clay, the former from California and the latter from Arizona. Similar forms would just as readily come from gourds, baskets, or other globular utensils. Nations having wooden vessels would copy them in clay on acquiring the art of pottery. This would give rise to a distinct group of forms, the result primarily of the peculiarities of the woody structure. [Pg 448] Thus in Fig. 467, a, we have a form of wooden vessel, a sort of winged trough that I have frequently found copied in clay. The earthen vessel given in Fig. 467, b, was obtained from an ancient grave in Arkansas. <div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image3.jpg" width-obs="450" height-obs="161" alt="a, stone. b, clay. Fig. 466.—Form derived from a stone pot." title="a, stone. b, clay. Fig. 466.—Form derived from a stone pot." /> Fig. 466.—Form derived from a stone pot. </div> <div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image4.jpg" width-obs="450" height-obs="83" alt="a, wood. b, clay. Fig. 467.—Form derived from a wooden tray." title="a, wood. b, clay. Fig. 467.—Form derived from a wooden tray." /> Fig. 467.—Form derived from a wooden tray. </div> <div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image5.jpg" width-obs="450" height-obs="102" alt="a, Horn. b, Clay. Fig. 468.—Form derivedfrom a horn spoon." title="a, Horn. b, Clay. Fig. 468.—Form derived from a horn spoon." /> Fig. 468.—Form derived from a horn spoon. </div> <div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image6.jpg" width-obs="450" height-obs="152" alt="a, Bark. b, Clay. Fig. 469.—Form derived from a bark vessel." title="a, Bark. b, Clay. Fig. 469.—Form derived from a bark vessel." /> Fig. 469.—Form derived from a bark vessel. </div> The carapace of some species of turtles, and perhaps even the hard case of the armadillo, could be utilized in a similar way. The shaping of a knot of wood often gives rise to a dipper-shaped vessel, such as may be found in use by many tribes, and is as likely an original for the dipper form in clay as is the gourd or the conch shell; the familiar horn vessel of the western tribes, Fig. 468, a, would have served equally well. The specimen given in b is from Arkansas. As a rule, however, such vessels cannot be traced to their originals, since by copying and recopying they have varied from the parent form, tending always toward uniform conventional shapes. [Pg 449] A vessel of rectangular outline might originate in wood or bark. In Fig. 469, a, we have a usual form of bark tray, which is possibly the prototype of the square-rimmed earthen vessel given in b. <div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image7.jpg" width-obs="450" height-obs="214" alt="a, Wicker. b, Clay. Fig. 470.—Form originating in basketry." title="a, Wicker. b, Clay. Fig. 470.—Form originating in basketry." /> Fig. 470.—Form originating in basketry. </div> <div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image8.jpg" width-obs="450" height-obs="190" alt="a, Wicker. b, Clay. Fig. 471.—Form originating in basketry." title="a, Wicker. b, Clay. Fig. 471.—Form originating in basketry." /> Fig. 471.—Form originating in basketry. </div> <div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/image9.jpg" width-obs="450" height-obs="212" alt="a, Net. b, Clay. Fig. 472.—Form originating in basketry." title="a, Net. b, Clay. Fig. 472.—Form originating in basketry." /> Fig. 472.—Form originating in basketry. </div> Basketry and other classes of woven vessels take a great variety of forms and, being generally antecedent to the potter's art and constantly present with it, have left an indelible impression upon ceramic forms. This is traceable in the earthenware of nearly all nations. The clay vessel is an intruder, and usurps the place and appropriates the dress of its predecessor in wicker. The form illustrated in Fig. 470, a, is a common one with the Pueblo peoples, and their earthen vessels often resemble it very closely, as shown in b. Another variety is given in Fig. 471, a and b. These specimens are from southwestern Utah. Fig. 472, b, illustrates a form quite common in the Southern States, a [Pg 450] section in which pouch-like nets and baskets, a, were formerly in use and in which the pots were often modeled. <h4>INVENTION OF FORM.</h4> In the early stages of art, forms are rarely invented outright and I shall not stop to consider the subject here. <hr style="width: 65%;" /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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