Book: Origin and Development of Form and Ornament in Ceramic Art.
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William Henry Holmes >> Origin and Development of Form and Ornament in Ceramic Art.
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION--BUREAU OF ETHNOLOGY.
ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT
OF
FORM AND ORNAMENT IN CERAMIC ART.
BY
WILLIAM H. HOLMES.
CONTENTS.
Page.
Introductory 443
Origin of form 445
By adventition 445
By imitation 445
By invention 450
Modification of form 450
By adventition 450
By intention 452
Origin of ornament 453
From natural objects 454
From artificial objects 455
Functional features 455
Constructional features 456
From accidents attending construction 457
From ideographic and pictorial subjects 457
Modification of ornament 457
Through material 458
Through form 458
Through methods of realization 459
ILLUSTRATIONS.
FIG. 464.--Form derived from a gourd 446
465.--Form derived from a conch, shell 447
466.--Form derived from a stone pot 448
467.--Form derived from a wooden tray 448
468.--Form derived from a horn spoon 448
469.--Form derived from a bark vessel 446
470.--Form derived from basketry 449
471.--Form derived from basketry 449
472.--Form derived from a wooden vessel 449
473.--Coincident forms 451
474.--Form produced by accident 451
475.--Scroll derived from the spire of a conch shell 454
476.--Theoretical development of current scroll 455
477.--Ornament derived through modification of handles 455
478.--Scroll derived from coil of clay 456
479.--Ornamental use of fillets of clay 456
480.--Variation through, the influence of form 459
481.--Theoretical development of the current scroll 460
482.--Forms of the same motive expressed in different arts 461
483.--Forms of the same motive expressed in different arts 461
484.--Forms of the same motive expressed in different arts 461
485.--Geometric form of textile ornament 462
486.--Loss of geometric accuracy in painting 462
487.--Design painted upon pottery 463
488.--Theoretical development of fret work 464
489.--Theoretical development of scroll work 465
ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF FORM AND ORNAMENT
IN CERAMIC ART.
BY WILLIAM H. HOLMES.
INTRODUCTORY.
For the investigation of art in its early stages and in its widest
sense--there is probably no fairer field than that afforded by
aboriginal America, ancient and modern.
At the period of discovery, art at a number of places on the American
continent seems to have been developing surely and steadily, through the
force of the innate genius of the race, and the more advanced nations
were already approaching the threshold of civilization; at the same time
their methods were characterized by great simplicity, and their art
products are, as a consequence, exceptionally homogeneous.
The advent of European civilization checked the current of growth, and
new and conflicting elements were introduced necessarily disastrous to
the native development.
There is much, however, in the art of living tribes, especially of those
least influenced by the whites, capable of throwing light upon the
obscure passages of precolumbian art. By supplementing the study of the
prehistoric by that of historic art, which is still in many cases in its
incipient stages, we may hope to penetrate deeply into the secrets of
the past.
The advantages of this field, as compared with Greece, Egypt, and the
Orient, will be apparent when we remember that the dawn of art in these
countries lies hidden in the shadow of unnumbered ages, while ours
stands out in the light of the very present. This is well illustrated by
a remark of Birch, who, in dwelling upon the antiquity of the fictile
art, says that "the existence of earthen vessels in Egypt was at least
coeval with the formation of a written language."[1] Beyond this there
is acknowledged chaos. In strong contrast with this, is the fact that
all precolumbian American pottery _precedes_ the acquisition of written
language, and this contrast is emphasized by the additional fact that it
also antedates the use of the wheel, that great perverter of the plastic
tendencies of clay.
[Footnote 1: Birch: History of Ancient Pottery, 1873, p. 8.]
The material presented in the following notes is derived chiefly from
the native ceramic art of the United States, but the principles involved
are applicable to all times and to all art, as they are based upon the
laws of nature.
Ceramic art presents two classes of phenomena of importance in the study
of the evolution of aesthetic culture. These relate, first, to _form_,
and second, to _ornament_.
_Form_, as embodied in clay vessels, embraces, 1st, _useful shapes_,
which may or may not be ornamental, and, 2d, _aesthetic shapes_, which
are ornamental and may be useful. There are also _grotesque_ and
_fanciful shapes_, which may or may not be either useful or ornamental.
No form or class of forms can be said to characterize a particular age
or stage of culture. In a general way, of course, the vessels of
primitive peoples will be simple in form, while those of more advanced
races will be more varied and highly specialized.
The shapes first assumed by vessels in clay depend upon the shape of the
vessels employed at the time of the introduction of the art, and these
depend, to a great extent, upon the kind and grade of culture of the
people acquiring the art and upon the resources of the country in which
they live. To illustrate: If, for instance, some of the highly advanced
Alaskan tribes which do not make pottery should migrate to another
habitat, less suitable to the practice of their old arts and well
adapted to art in clay, and should there acquire the art of pottery,
they would doubtless, to a great extent, copy their highly developed
utensils of wood, bone, ivory, and basketry, and thus reach a high grade
of ceramic achievement in the first century of the practice of the art;
but, on the other hand, if certain tribes, very low in intelligence and
having no vessel-making arts, should undergo a corresponding change of
habitat and acquire the art of pottery, they might not reach in a
thousand years, if left to themselves, a grade in the art equal to that
of the hypothetical Alaskan potters in the first decade. It is,
therefore, not the age of the art itself that determines its forms, but
the grade and kind of art with which it originates and coexists.
_Ornament_ is subject to similar laws. Where pottery is employed by
peoples in very low stages of culture, its ornamentation will be of the
simple archaic kind. Being a conservative art and much hampered by the
restraints of convention, the elementary forms of ornament are carried a
long way into the succeeding periods and have a very decided effect upon
the higher stages. Pottery brought into use for the first time by more
advanced races will never pass through the elementary stage of
decoration, but will take its ornament greatly from existing art and
carry this up in its own peculiar way through succeeding generations.
The character of the ornamentation does not therefore depend upon the
age of the art so much as upon the acquirements of the potter and his
people in other arts.
ORIGIN OF FORM
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.
/ By adventition.
Origin of form--| By imitation--------/ Of natural models.
\ By invention. \ Of artificial models
+FORMS SUGGESTED BY ADVENTITION.+
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.
+FORMS DERIVED BY IMITATION.+
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 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.
[Illustration: _a_, Gourd. _b_, Clay vessel. FIG. 464.--Form
derived from a gourd.]
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.
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.
[Illustration: _a_, Shell. _b_, Clay. FIG. 465.--Form derived
from a conch shell.]
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. 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.
[Illustration: _a_, stone. _b_, clay. FIG. 466.--Form derived
from a stone pot.]
[Illustration: _a_, wood. _b_, clay. FIG. 467.--Form derived
from a wooden tray.]
[Illustration: _a_, Horn. _b_, Clay. FIG. 468.--Form derived
from a horn spoon.]
[Illustration: _a_, Bark. _b_, Clay. FIG. 469.--Form derived
from a bark vessel.]
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.
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_.
[Illustration: _a_, Wicker. _b_, Clay. FIG. 470.--Form
originating in basketry.]
[Illustration: _a_, Wicker. _b_, Clay. FIG. 471.--Form
originating in basketry.]
[Illustration: _a_, Net. _b_, Clay. FIG. 472.--Form originating
in basketry.]
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
section in which pouch-like nets and baskets, _a_, were formerly in use
and in which the pots were often modeled.
+INVENTION OF FORM.+
In the early stages of art, forms are rarely invented outright and I
shall not stop to consider the subject here.
+MODIFICATION OF FORM.+
The acquisition of new materials, the development of new uses, the
employment of new processes of manufacture, and many other agencies lead
to the multiplication of forms through modification. The processes by
which highly differentiated forms are reached are interesting throughout
and repay the closest study.
A preliminary classification of the various causes that lead to
modification is given in the following synopsis:
/ / /To assume form.
| |Incapacity of material--\To retain form.
| |Incapacity of the artisan.
| |Changes in method of manufacture.
|By adventition--|Changes in environment.
|Changes of use.
Modification of form--| |Lack of use.
| \Influence of new or exotic forms, etc.
|
| /To enhance usefulness.
|By intention--|
| \To please fancy.--/For the beautiful.
\ \For the grotesque.
+MODIFICATION BY ADVENTITION.+
_Incapacity of material._--It is evident at a glance that clay lacks the
capacity to assume and to retain many of the details of form found in
antecedent vessels. This necessarily results in the alteration or
omission of these features, and hence arise many modifications of
original forms.
The simple lack of capacity on the part of the potter who undertook to
reproduce a model would lead to the modification of all but the most
simple shapes.
The acquisition of the art by a superior or an inferior race, or one of
different habits would lead to decided changes. A people accustomed to
carrying objects upon the head, on acquiring earthen vessels would shape
the bases and the handles to facilitate this use.
Improvements in the methods of manufacture are of the greatest
importance in the progress of an art. The introduction of the lathe, for
example, might almost revolutionize form in clay.
As arts multiply, clay is applied to new uses. Its employment in the
manufacture of lamps, whistles, or toys would lead to a multitude of
distinct and unique forms.
The acquisition of a new vessel-making material by a nation of potters
and the association of the forms developed through its inherent
qualities or structure would often lead ceramic shapes into new
channels.
[Illustration: _a_, wood. _b_, clay. FIG. 473.--Coincident forms.]
The contact of a nation of potters with a nation of carvers in wood
would tend very decidedly to modify the utensils of the former. One
example may be given which will illustrate the possibilities of such
exotic influences upon form. In Fig. 473, _a_, we have an Alaskan vessel
carved in wood. It represents a beaver grasping a stick in its hands and
teeth. The conception is so unusual and the style of vessel so
characteristic of the people that we should not expect to find it
repeated in other regions; but the ancient graves of the Middle
Mississippi Valley have furnished a number of very similar vessels in
clay, one of which is outlined in _b_. While this remarkable coincidence
is suggestive of ethnic relationships which do not call for attention
here, it serves to illustrate the possibilities of modification by
simple contact.
[Illustration: _a_ _b_ FIG. 471.--Form resulting from accident.]
A curious example illustrative of possible transformation by
adventitious circumstances is found in the collection from the province
of ancient Tusayan. A small vessel of sphynx-like appearance, possibly
derived more or less remotely from a skin vessel, has a noticeable
resemblance to some life form, Fig. 474, _a_. The fore-legs are
represented by two large bosses, the wide-open mouth takes the place of
the severed neck, and a handle connects the top of the rim with the back
of the vessel. The handle being broken off and the vessel inverted,
_b_, there is a decided change; we are struck by the resemblance to a
frog or toad. The original legs, having dark concentric lines painted
around them, look like large protruding eyes, and the mouth gapes in the
most realistic manner, while the two short broken ends of the handle
resemble legs and serve to support the vessel in an upright position,
completing the illusion. The fetich-hunting Pueblo Indian, picking up
this little vessel in its mutilated condition, would probably at once
give to it the sacred character of the water animal which it resembles,
and it might readily transmit its peculiarities of form to other
generations of vessels.
It is not necessary in this study to refer at length to the influence of
metallic vessels upon ceramic forms. They do not usually appear until
the ceramic art is far advanced and often receive a heritage of shape
from earthen forms. Afterwards, when the inherent qualities of the metal
have stamped their individuality upon utensils, the debt is paid back to
clay with interest, as will be seen by reference to later forms in many
parts of the world.
+MODIFICATION BY INTENTION.+
_To enhance usefulness._--There can be no doubt that the desire upon the
part of the archaic potter to increase the usefulness and convenience of
his utensils has been an important agent in the modification of form.
The earliest vessels employed were often clumsy and difficult to handle.
The favorite conch shell would hold water for him who wished to drink,
but the breaking away of spines and the extraction of the interior whorl
improved it immeasurably. The clumsy mortar of stone, with its thick
walls and great weight, served a useful purpose, but it needed a very
little intelligent thought to show that thin walls and neatly-trimmed
margins were much preferable.
Vessels of clay, aside from the forms imposed upon, them by their
antecedents and associates, would necessarily be subject to changes
suggested by the growing needs of man. These would be worked out with
ever-increasing ease by his unfolding genius for invention. Further
investigation of this phase of development would carry me beyond the
limits set for this paper.
_To please fancy._--The skill acquired by the handling of clay in
constructing vessels and in efforts to increase their usefulness would
open an expansive field for the play of fancy. The potter would no
sooner succeed in copying vessels having life form than he would be
placed in a position to realize his capacity to imitate forms not
peculiar to vessels. His ambition would in time lead him even beyond the
limits of nature and he would invade the realm of imagination, embodying
the conceptions of superstition in the plastic clay. This tendency would
be encouraged and perpetuated by the relegation of vessels of particular
forms to particular ceremonies.
+ORIGIN OF ORNAMENT.+
The birth of the embellishing art must be sought in that stage of animal
development when instinct began to discover that certain attributes or
adornments increased attractiveness. When art in its human sense came
into existence ideas of embellishment soon extended from the _person_,
with, which they had been associated, to all things with which man had
to deal. The processes of the growth of the aesthetic idea are long and
obscure and cannot be taken up in this place.