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 The evolution of decorative art 
 
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Cornell University 
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THE EVOLUTION 
 
 OF 
 
 DECORATIVE ART 
 
THE EVOLUTION 
 
 OF 
 
 DECORATIVE ART 
 
 AN ESSAY UPON ITS ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT 
 AS ILLUSTRATED BY THE ART OF 
 MODERN RACES OF MANKIND 
 
 BY 
 
 HENRY BALFOUR, M.A., F.Z.S. 
 
 CURATOR OF THE ETHNOGRAPHICAL DEPARTMENT (pITT RIVERS COLLECTION), 
 UNIVERSITY MUSEUM, OXFORD 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 MACMILLAN AND CO. 
 
 1893 
 
PREFACE 
 
 In presenting this short and, as I am well aware, 
 imperfect essay to the public, I feel that it is necessary 
 to say a few words in justification of my action. 
 Although, for a proper comprehension of the growth 
 of Art, it is necessary that its evolution should be 
 studied from its very simplest beginning, this aspect 
 of the subject has hardly been touched upon by 
 writers of so-called ' Histories of Art' In these, 
 frequently very excellent works, the history of art is 
 traced back perhaps to Assyrian and Ancient Egyptian 
 civilisations, and a few writers dwell briefly upon the 
 characteristics of modern Savage Art. Few of them, 
 however, offer any study of the Art of the more 
 primitive of the living races of mankind, with a view 
 to explaining, by a process of reasoning from the 
 known to the unknown, the first efforts of Primeval 
 Man to produce objects which should be pleasing to 
 the eye, and gratify his growing aesthetic feelings. 
 
vi Preface. 
 
 The Art of Design must, we know, have had a 
 continuous history, and have grown up gradually 
 from simple beginnings, at first by easy stages, 
 involving but slight intellectual efforts, steadily pro- 
 gressing until it has become an essential element 
 in our surroundings, absorbing a vast amount of 
 complex reasoning, the result of the accumulation 
 and combination of simple ideas, which are the out- 
 come of experience during countless ages. 
 
 George Harris, in his Theory of the Arts, 
 published in 1869, undoubtedly sounds the key-note 
 to this subject, without however bringing many 
 tangible examples to bear upon his theories. 
 
 It is to General Pitt Rivers without doubt that 
 we owe the stimulus which has of recent years led 
 many workers to investigate the gradual development 
 of the various Arts of mankind, and to endeavour to 
 trace their histories back to their absolute origins. 
 The illustration of the gradual growth of Decorative 
 Art from simple beginnings was a part of his scheme 
 for establishing series of objects with a view to tracing 
 the stages in the evolution of all the material arts of 
 mankind. With this object in view he accumulated 
 
Preface. vii 
 
 material and formed series to illustrate the origin, 
 growth step by step, and variations of certain patterns, 
 and these series form some of the most interesting 
 and striking features in his collection. Amongst 
 many others one may mention the series illustrating 
 the ' varieties and geographical distribution of the 
 Loop Coil ;' series showing the gradual degradation 
 of designs representing the human form and their 
 conversion into meaningless ornament, illustrating the 
 importance of successive copying as a factor in the 
 evolution of patterns ; those showing the derivation 
 of patterns on gourds and pottery from the strings by 
 which once the vessels were carried. These and 
 others such are too well known to require description. 
 It is much to be regretted that with the exception 
 of valuable remarks embodied in essays upon wider 
 subjects, ^ and a few descriptions of the development 
 of special patterns, we have not the benefit of his 
 
 ' ' Principles of Classification, '_/»«?-». Anthropological Inst. vol. iv. 
 p. 293 ; Report on Anthropology at the Brit. Association, 1872, ib. ii. 
 p. 350 ; Catalogue of the Anthropological Collection of Colonel Lane 
 Fox (Gen. Pitt Rivers); ' Evolution of Culture,' Proc. Royal Institution, 
 vii. pt. 6 ; ' Address delivered at the Dorchester School of Art, ' Feb. 
 1884, printed in the Dorchester County Chronicle, Feb. 7. 1884. John 
 Colliers's Primer of Art also embodies the views of General Pitt Rivers 
 on the development of the art of design. 
 
viii Preface. 
 
 researches into the history of Decorative Art in a 
 published form. Among the earher researches into 
 the history of patterns should be mentioned Dr. John 
 Evans's striking series of British coins, upon which, in 
 the course of successive reproductions the once realistic 
 design becomes hopelessly conventional (Proc. Royal 
 Inst. vii. p. 475). Since the arrival of General Pitt 
 Rivers's Collection in Oxford, as a gift to the University, 
 I have constantly endeavoured to collect fresh material 
 and facts, with a view to the further development of 
 the subject. According to the general law laid down 
 by him, and from the evidence now accumulated, there 
 seem to me to be deducible certain general conclusions 
 regarding the earlier history of Art, shedding light 
 upon the first efforts of Prehistoric man in the Art of 
 Design and Decoration, and also explaining the 
 gradual formation and raison d'etre of various forms 
 of ornament which are familiar to us. These con- 
 clusions I have endeavoured very briefly to set down 
 in a more or less connected form in this essay. Whole 
 chapters might easily be written upon the history and 
 variations of single designs or patterns, but this is not 
 my object in this little book; but rather it is to interest 
 
Preface. ix 
 
 if possible the ' general reader ' in a subject which will 
 repay further investigation, the material for which 
 lies immediately at hand. It is within every one's 
 power to advance our knowledge of the subject, and, 
 I may add, hunting up the genealogies of well-known 
 forms of ornament is a most attractive pursuit and 
 can be quite exciting at times. Strict continuity is 
 not easily obtainable, and it is impossible to take into 
 consideration the countless indirect influences which 
 affect the growth of an Art and help to divert it 
 from following a straight course. We are content, 
 when we can, to sail down the middle of the main 
 stream, taking little heed of the many smaller 
 tributaries, which nevertheless affect the course of 
 the stream with their influence. 
 
 I have in the course of the following pages 
 frequently to use the term ' Savage ' as applied to the 
 more lowly cultured races of mankind. In doing so 
 I am merely using a commonly accepted term for 
 want of a better. I do it under protest, as the word 
 is very unsatisfactory whether taken in the light of 
 its modern significance, which would ascribe ' ferocity ' 
 to many inoffensive peoples, to whose nature it is 
 
X Preface. 
 
 wholly strange except when introduced to them by 
 civilised invaders ; or whether considered according 
 to its original meaning, i.e. living in woods or forests 
 (Fr. sauvage, It. selvaggio, from Lat. silva, a wood), 
 as in this case its inappropriateness is manifest when 
 it is applied to such races as the Esquimaux, for whom 
 forests can exist only in ecstatic dreams, and with 
 whom drift-wood has to be substituted for grow- 
 ing timber. The French expression ' naturel ' is far 
 preferable, but our equivalent ' child of nature ' is 
 too unwieldy for general use, and the single word 
 ' natural ' is out of the question from its unfortunate 
 significance of crazy in some of our northern dialects. 
 The illustrations are partly from photographs of 
 specimens or illustrations in other works kindly made 
 for me by Mr. A. Robinson, but mostly from my own 
 sketches, and these are necessarily rough as I have 
 been satisfied that they should illustrate as clearly as 
 possible the special points for which they were selected, 
 and have not attempted, what I regret is to me an 
 impossibility, to produce artistic sketches. 
 
 H. B. 
 
 II NoRHAM Gardens, 
 Oxford. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 I' AGES 
 
 Preface ...... . v-x 
 
 Introductory — Our knowledge of the Art of Prehistoric Man, 
 and the impossibility of tracing the origin and continuous 
 history of Decorative Art by archaeological investigation 
 alone . . . 1-13 
 
 Value of a study of the art of modern primitive races as throw- 
 ing light upon the actual developmental history of Art '3-1? 
 
 Evolution of Decorative Art — First Stage ; appreciation and 
 adaptation of natural or accidental peculiarities as 
 ornamental effects ..... 17-21 
 
 Second Stage : reproducing artificially natural effects ; copy- 
 ing, successive copying . . . 21-22 
 
 Third Stage : Variation ; Unconscious variation and succes- 
 sive copying . . . ..... 23-31 
 
 Conscious variation : human designs on spears and frigate- 
 bird designs, Solomon Islands ; human-face designs on 
 South American pottery ; degradation of human form in 
 Peruvian pottery vessels ; ditto in Cypriot and Mykense 
 vessels . ..... 31-49 
 
 Variations in symbolic designs : Chinese bat-designs, Japanese 
 
 crest-designs . . . . . 49-55 
 
 Survival of principal feature in a symbolic design : New 
 
 Zealand ' tongue '-pattern .... 55-58 
 
 Survival of essential parts in Totemic and mythological 
 designs : Haida Totemic figures ; Sandwich Islands 
 human grotesques ; winged-figures and palm-tree designs 58-64 
 
xii Contents 
 
 PAGES 
 
 Persistence of types or themes in savage Art . 64-66 
 
 Influence of one design over another ; human and bird designs, 
 
 Solomon Islands . . . 67-70 
 
 New designs suggested by variations of existing ones : New 
 
 Guinea bird and human-face designs . 70-72 
 
 Adaptation of decoration to necessary form . 72 
 
 Degeneration of utility of an object due to excessive decora- 
 tion : Hervey Islands adzes, etc. . . 73"76 
 
 Resume, .76 
 
 Sculpture ; its origin and early development . 77"8o 
 
 Influence of animistic doctrines : Martynia-seed charm against 
 snake-bite, ' snake-nut,' ' ginseng,' Haida seal-charm, 
 
 mandrake root 81-87 
 
 Carvings of animals, realistic and grotesque . . . 87-89 
 
 Necessary distortion of would-be realistic carving : Esquimaux 
 
 arrow-straighteners 89-91 
 
 Persistence of form when material is changed : apple-gouges, 
 
 etc. .... . . 91-93 
 
 Adoption and copying of a natural peculiarity because of its 
 
 usefulness ....... 93*95 
 
 Delineation at Graphic Art : its origin 95 
 
 Esquimaux carving and line designs . 96 
 
 Use of colours : bas-relief . . . 98-100 
 
 Evolution of a nature-suggested pattern, Solomon Islands 
 
 arrows, ... . . 100-105 
 
 Ornamental zigzag chipping on flint daggers . . . 105-107 
 
 Ornament suggested by objects used in manufacture, etc., 
 of articles : bands round pottery vessels, imprints of 
 textiles on pottery, strings used for carrying vessels, 
 symbolic pattern derived from method of tying presenta- 
 tion parcels in Japan, etc. . . , 107-113 
 Retention of once useful objects as ornament after their use 
 
 has ceased : Austrian air-giin . . . 113 
 
Contents xiii 
 
 PAGES 
 
 The earlier form of an object, whose shape has been modified 
 by a change of material, indicated in its ornamentation : 
 Andamanese plates .... . 114 
 
 Imperfections used as vehicles for ornament : Solomon 
 
 Islands clubs . .... 115 
 
 Influence of material upon the nature of ornamental designs : 
 wampum patterns ; basket-work designs, British Guiana ; 
 weaving . . . 1 16-126 
 
 Complex patterns composed of simple elements . 126 
 
 Conclusion . . . 127-128 
 
 Appendix; references to literature . . . 129-132 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 I'AGE 
 
 Plate i. Successive copies of design representing a snail 26 
 
 ,, II. Successive copies of figure of Greek warrior . . 29 
 
 ,, III. Ornamented arrow-shafts, Solomon Islands . . loi 
 
 Fig. I. Prehistoric drawing of reindeer, Thayingen Cave . 6 
 \i.. Cave Period Drawings, La Madelaine (after 
 
 Mortillet) 7. 
 
 3-4. Carved daggers, Laugerie-Haute and Bruniquel . 8 
 
 5. Carved harpoon-head, La Madelaine ... 9 
 
 6. Carved stone axe-head 10 
 
 7. Figure of stone axe, Dol-ar-Marchant 11 
 
 8. Ornamented flint dagger, Danish . .12 
 
 9. Boomerang with blackened knots . .18 
 
 10. Human-form designs on spears, Solomon Islands . 33 
 
 11. Frigate-bird designs, Solomon Islands ... 35 
 
 12. Face-designs on South American pottery . . 37 
 
 13. Human-form designs on Peruvian pottery vessels . 41 
 
 14. Cypriot vase in human form . . .45 
 
 15. 16, 17. Face urns, Mykense . . 47 
 
 18. Chinese ' bat ' designs 50 
 
 19. Japanese crest designs: 'cranes' (from book of 
 
 Japanese crests) ...... 52 
 
 20. Japanese crest designs : ' butterfly ' 53 
 
 21. Japanese crest designs : 'feathers' . . 53 
 
 22. Japanese crane : realistic .... 54 
 
 23. Maori staves with human-face grotesques . . 57 
 
 24. Pipe carved in Totemic designs .... 59 
 
 25. Human-form canoe fetich, Solomon Islands 68 
 
List of Illustrations xv 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Fig. 26, 27. Bird- and human-form canoe fetiches, Rubiana 
 
 Island .... ... 69 
 
 28. Bird designs, New Guinea (from chunam spatulas) 71 
 
 29. Ceremonial adzes, Hervey Islands ... 74 
 
 30. Martynia-seed charm against snake-bite, Burma . 83 
 
 31. Stone seal charm, Haida . . 85 
 
 32. Mandrake root, Asia Minor . . 86 
 
 33. Carved arrow-straightener, Western Esquimaux 89 
 
 34. Carved arrow-straightener. Western Esquimaux 90 
 
 35. Apple-gouges of bone and wood ... 91 
 
 36. Root-headed clubs, Fiji Islands and Australia . 94 
 
 37. Carved and incised ivory toggle, Esquimaux 97 
 
 38. Zigzag chipping of Danish flint daggers 106 
 
 39. Ancient British urn with rope-like band of orna- 
 
 ment, from tumulus at Guildford . . . 108 
 
 40. Similarly decorated urn. New Mexico . . . 108 
 
 41. Presentation wrappers, Japan . . . . 112 
 
 42. Austrian air-gun . . . . . 113 
 
 43. Plates of shell and of wood, Andaman Islands . 115 
 
 44. Club with decorated flaw, Solomon Islands . . n6 
 
 45. Wampum belt with figures. North America . . 119 
 
 46. Snake pattern in basket-work, British Guiana . 121 
 
 47. Spider-monkey pattern in basket-work, British 
 
 Guiana ... .123 
 
Evolution of Decorative Art 
 
 IT is not my purpose to deal with the Fine Arts as 
 a whole, but to restrict myself to the considera- 
 tion of a single branch, that of Decorative Art, and 
 to examine briefly such evidence as we have of its 
 gradual evolution from the simple to the complex, 
 both in the case of individual forms of ornament, and 
 from a more general standpoint in the endeavour to 
 trace the history of the art back to the earliest 
 efforts of primitive man in a field as yet unexplored. 
 Of the actual infancy of Decorative Art we have 
 no knowledge, and it is impossible to affix even an 
 approximate date to its origin. The true history 
 of its growth ' ab ovo usque ad mala ' is lost and can 
 never be written, and in forming our opinion of the 
 condition of its early progress we are reduced to 
 reasoning from analogy, and are unable to produce 
 a chain of evidence in the form of events arranged in 
 true chronological order. 
 
 It is well known that appreciation of the effects 
 of artificial decoration to a certain degree extends 
 
 A 
 
2 Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 beyond the limits of the human race. There are, for 
 example, various birds, such as magpies, jackdaws, 
 ' bower-birds,' which love t§ adorn their nests, or, in 
 case of the last named, their ' bowers,' with various 
 bright objects, — shells, paper, bleached bones, silver 
 spoons, and other articles foreign to the elements 
 required for mere construction. With them, however, 
 this would appear to be the result of instinctive at- 
 traction to bright and glistening objects generally, 
 and there is no true creative operation of the intellect 
 which characterises the use of decoration as a fine art. 
 In the same way, no doubt, Man in his earliest and 
 most uncultured state appreciated to some extent 
 beauty as occurring in Nature, and was attracted by 
 uncommon or brightly coloured objects, or by any 
 individual peculiarities in familiar things which pre- 
 sented themselves to his notice, long before he 
 conceived the idea of imitating them. The discovery 
 of numbers of the little perforated beadlike fossils, 
 Coscinopora globularis, in small groups in the gravels 
 of the River Drift, seems to point to the fact that in 
 early Palaeolithic times these were collected for their 
 peculiar appearance and comparative rarity, and were 
 very probably strung together to form necklets or 
 bead-strings, just as modern savages frequently select 
 natural objects of peculiar form for the adornment of 
 their persons, or for use as charms. 
 
Evolution of Decorative Art. 3 
 
 The earliest attempts, however, of Primaeval Man 
 in decoration as a fine art, are, as I have already 
 said, completely involved in obscurity, and their true 
 history can be only speculated upon. We have no 
 direct evidence of any attempts having been made 
 during the early Palaeolithic age to embellieh any of 
 the useful objects, or to apply artificial ornamentation 
 in any form. The rude implements, roughly made 
 from pieces of flint, which are found in the gravels of 
 the River Drift, and which are the earliest evidence 
 we have of Man's attempts at manufacture, are never 
 embellished with decoration of any kind. Indeed, 
 the material, hard and difficult as it is to work into 
 shape, is utterly unsuited to the application of 
 decoration except in the most expert hands. 
 
 It by no means follows that Man in the ' Drift 
 Period ' was unacquainted with the art, of ornament- 
 ing ; he very probably frequently carved or chipped 
 rough and simple patterns upon his implements of 
 wood, bone, or other comparatively soft materials, 
 but these, unfortunately, have not been handed down 
 to us, having been unable to withstand the destroying 
 action of time, which leaves only the hard and practi- 
 cally imperishable implements of flint to indicate to 
 us the state of culture in those extremely remote ages. 
 
 In later, though still very remote, times — during 
 the early portion of the ' Cave Period ' so called — 
 
4 Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 the absence of evidence of artificial decoration is still 
 a marked feature. Amongst the remains in France 
 of the period to which Mortillet has given the name 
 ' Moustierienne,' — the epoch especially of the Cave 
 Bear (Ursus spelceus) in Europe, — are found remark- 
 ably few implements of bone or horn, and none of 
 wood, and consequently traces of ornamentation are 
 almost entirely absent. The stone implements show 
 no attempts at decoration. 
 
 During the ' lipoque Solutr^enne ' a certain 
 number of horn and bone implements appear 
 associated with flint and chert blades which are 
 masterpieces of workmanship ; but, although certain 
 would-be realistic carvings of deer in high and 
 complete relief upon stone have been found,^ em- 
 bellishment of purely decorative nature is extremely 
 scarce. The mammoth was a prominent feature 
 during this period, and the reindeer appears upon the 
 scene in Southern France. 
 
 It is during the ' Epoque Magdaldnienne ' that the 
 art of the ' Cave Period ' fully manifests itself. The 
 period of excessive cold in Northern and Central 
 Europe was coming to a close ; the Post-Glacial 
 reaction had set in, and in the finds of Laugerie-Basse, 
 Les Eyzies, Bruniquel, Schussenried, and other places, 
 evidence is discovered of the stimulus to the arts of 
 
 ^ Mortillet, Musee PrehistoHque. 
 
Evolution of Decorative Art. 5 
 
 the inhabitants of these regions, resulting from the 
 less severe climatic conditions and the diminished 
 hardness of the struggle for existence. The climate 
 was still a rigorous one, and an examination of their 
 implements proves that the people of this latest 
 division of the ' Cave Period ' depended principally 
 upon the products of the chase for their food-supply. 
 The reindeer, now to be found in Europe only in 
 the extreme north, was perhaps the principal feature 
 in the surroundings, and furnished at the same time 
 food, horn for fashioning into spear-heads, daggers, 
 and other implements, and no doubt also clothing 
 and other necessaries of life. This race of hunters 
 and fishers, living under a somewhat rigorous 
 climate, may, in their general mode of living, have 
 resembled the Esquimaux of modern times, and a 
 striking resemblance is certainly seen in the condition 
 of their artistic attainments. 
 
 Very many of the implements made of reindeer 
 horn, so characteristic of this period, which have 
 been discovered in the cave breccia of Southern 
 France, Switzerland, and other parts, are decorated 
 with representations of animals, many of which are 
 very lifelike and well executed, showing a state of 
 artistic culture which appears disproportionate to the 
 primitive surroundings. Some of the studies are 
 poor and indistinct, it is true, but a number are 
 
6 Mvoluiion of Decorative Art. 
 
 spirited and clever life-studies of various animals 
 very familiar to the people who depended upon them 
 so largely, such as horses, reindeer, fish, etc. The 
 boldly executed figure of a mammoth scratched upon 
 a fragment of the ivory tusk of this animal, has been 
 deservedly often quoted and figured,' and is an ex- 
 cellent example of the earliest known attempts at 
 realistic representation. The etching of a reindeer 
 
 Fig. I. — Prehistoric drawing of Reindeer, Cave of Thayingen. 
 
 found in the cave of Thayingen stands conspicuous 
 as a masterpiece of 'life-study,' equally as regards 
 the correct outline, the attitude portrayed, and the 
 execution (Fig. i). 
 
 We find, moreover, representations of Man himself 
 among these sketches (Fig. 2). 
 
 ■■ Lubbock, Prehistoric Ti?nes, p. 340. 
 
Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 7 
 
 This was pre-eminently an age of realistic repre- 
 sentation ; the sketches, which are for the most part 
 
 Fig. 2. — Prehistoric drawings. Cave Period, La Madelaine. 
 
 scratched upon the surface of pieces or tools of rein- 
 deer horn — more rarely upon pieces of flat stone — 
 being evidently intended to be faithful portraits of 
 the animals, applied to the convenient surfaces 
 afforded by the various implements, and possibly 
 not with any idea of beautifying the latter, though it 
 is quite possible that some of the groups and scenes 
 represented may have been intended to record special 
 events, such as hunting incidents ; they may, in fact, 
 in many cases, have been a rudimentary form of 
 picture-writing, such as that with which the North 
 American Indians recorded the events of their time. 
 
 Occasionally, however, a departure from strict 
 'realism' is seen, as when, for example, the handle 
 of a dagger or other implement has been carved to 
 represent the figure of some animal in complete 
 
8 
 
 Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 Fig. 4. — Dagger handle of Rein- 
 deer horn, Bruniqucl ; from a cast. 
 
 relief. The two examples here given illustrate this 
 
 point (Figs. 3 and 4). 
 
 In the one, an entire dagger of reindeer 
 horn, a figure of a reindeer has been carved 
 with considerable skill at the upper or handle 
 end ; in the other, a similar idea has been 
 executed, the blade being missing. In 
 both cases it has been necessary to distort 
 the animal's attitude, 
 in order to adapt its 
 form to that of a con- 
 Vm venient handle, and 
 this form of repre- 
 sentation, though fairly accurate so far as 
 is compatible with the strained attitude, 
 must be classed as conventionalised for 
 purposes of ornament, thus differing from 
 the incised sketches mentioned, which must 
 be classed as realistic portraits. It is true 
 the distortion in these instances is slight, 
 Fig. 3- and but little detracts from the value of the 
 
 Dagger of 
 
 Reindeer representation of the animal, but neverthe- 
 
 hom, Lau- 
 
 gerie-Haute; less the carviHg IS to a certain extent sub- 
 
 from a cast. . . i r . r i • i t 
 
 servient to the function of the implement, and 
 
 has been modified so as to conform to necessary outline. 
 
 Many of the horn and bone implements, especially 
 
 the 'harpoon heads' and smaller points, exhibit 
 
Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 decoration apparently of a purely fanciful or conven- 
 tional character, such as plain, straight, 
 or curved lines, chevrons and notches. 
 The harpoon head represented in Fig. 5 
 affords an example of simple decoration 
 of this kind. We must nevertheless 
 regard the characteristic art of the later 
 ' Cave Period ' as realistic. 
 
 Leaving now the ' Cave Period,' and 
 passing on to the Later Stone Age or 
 ' Neolithic Period,' we lose sight of the 
 bold realistic representation so charac- 
 teristic of the 'Epoque Magdaldnienne.' 
 Such carvings as may be classed as 
 realistic are for the most part both 
 rudely executed and poor in conception, 
 and, moreover, rarely found at all. 
 Rarely an implement of stone is found, 
 which is ornamented with the head of an 
 animal well carved upon it ; such an 
 example is given in Fig. 6, and shows 
 the head of a bear cleverly executed by 
 carving upon a perforated axe of 
 stone ; but such an example is quite Harpoon head, 
 
 La Madelaine 
 
 exceptional, and probably belongs to (British Museum), 
 the end of the period. The greater part of the 
 artistic skill of this period would seem to have 
 
 Fig, 5. — Carved 
 
lo Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 been lavished upon the symmetrical shape and 
 finish of the implements of stone, and the laborious 
 polishing of their surfaces. Most writers assert that 
 the Neolithic Period was behind the Cave Period in 
 
 Fig. 6. — Stone Axe-head with carved bear's head, Russian Carelia 
 (Acad, des Sciences, St. Petersburg). 
 
 the art of design. Boyd Dawkins, in his Early Man 
 in Britain, remarks : ' Although the neolithic men 
 were immeasurably above the cave men in culture, 
 they were far below them in the arts of design. They 
 have not left behind any well-defined representations 
 of the forms either of plants or animals, . , . and 
 their highest artistic achievement is the rude figure 
 of a stone axe in its handle of wood, engraved on the 
 roof of the sepulchral chamber of Dol-ar-Marchant, 
 near Locmariaquer in Brittany.' This assertion holds 
 good only with regard to the realistic style or studies 
 from nature ; in conventional or fanciful design a 
 considerable advance is observed, and the art of this 
 age was devoted rather to embellishing and beautify- 
 ing useful objects than to, so to speak, sketching from 
 nature. Its ' school ' was a very different one, but 
 by no means necessarily inferior. 
 
JEvolution of Decorative Art. 1 1 
 
 The representation of a hafted stone axe (Fig. 7), 
 mentioned by Boyd Dawkins in the passage quoted 
 above, is an example of a rough realistic sketch, cut 
 upon a slab of hard stone, the outline representing 
 very fairly the form of some hafted stone axes which 
 have been discovered ; this design occurs fairly fre- 
 quently upon the walls of sepulchral chambers in 
 Brittany and elsewhere in France, and would seem 
 to have had some symbolic meaning. 
 
 /f 
 
 Fig. 7. — Representation of Stone Axe carved on wall of sepulchral chamber, 
 Dol-ar-Marchantj Locmariaquer. (From a sketch made on the spot.) 
 
 The fanciful decoration of stone implements of the 
 neolithic age frequently gives evidence of considerable 
 skill and taste. In Denmark, even the implements of 
 flint, works of art in themselves, were sometimes 
 ornamented with zigzag lines laboriously and skilfully 
 chipped upon surfaces and edges, showing how com- 
 plete was the mastery over this hard and difficult 
 material. The figure of a Danish flint dagger shows 
 this form of ornamentation, to which I shall again have 
 
12 
 
 Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 occasion to refer later on (Fig. 8). In the Copenhagen 
 Museum (' Oldsager') there is a 
 truly magnificent specimen of orna- 
 mented dagger of this kind, perhaps 
 the finest example of ilint work 
 extant. It is significant that 
 we, with all our nineteenth-century 
 appliances, should be absolutely 
 incapable of producing flint work to 
 compare with these examples, which 
 have baffled all the attempts of the 
 most laborious and sanguine 'forger.' 
 We are still in doubt as regards 
 the implements, and handles of im- 
 plements, of softer materials during 
 this period, as these have for the 
 most part perished, but we can only 
 suppose that these were frequently 
 embellished with carving, more 
 elaborate no doubt than that 
 bestowed upon the harder materials. 
 It is perhaps unnecessary to 
 pursue further the subject of our 
 
 Fig. 8.— Dagger of Flint 
 
 with ornamented zigzag knowledge, or perhaps rather our 
 
 lines, Denmark (Pitt 
 
 Rivers Collection). iguorancc, of the art of the remote 
 ages. The foregoing remarks upon art in the important 
 early periods, the ' Drift,' ' Cave,' and ' Neolithic ' 
 
Evolution of Decorative Art. 13 
 
 periods, are necessary in order to show very briefly 
 how extremely incomplete is the actual record, and 
 as an introduction to the main portion of this essay. 
 We first become acquainted with the art of design in 
 the remains of the Cave Period, but it is evident that 
 art had had a long history of progress before this stage 
 was reached, that the infancy of the art had already 
 long been forgotten, with an imposing list of interven- 
 ing ancestors. There is at least no reason for supposing 
 that the people of the Cave Period became acquainted 
 with the art purely by intuition. 
 
 It is further manifest that a study of the relics of 
 Prehistoric times gives evidence of marked phases or 
 epochs in the history of decorative art ; but, even 
 when the matter is treated in far greater detail than 
 I have been able to do here, the succession of ideas 
 required to form a complete history is by no means 
 clear. We have only isolated links without the means 
 of connecting them into a continuous chain. 
 
 In the absence, therefore, of direct record, we must 
 turn from the study of prehistoric Archaeology and 
 look elsewhere for evidence which may throw light 
 upon the origin and early progress of decorative art, 
 and, by examining the conditions to be found among 
 those living races of mankind which are most nearly 
 allied to Primaeval Man, form from these our 
 
14 Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 conclusions as to the actual history of the art in the 
 human race as a whole. Let us turn therefore to 
 the modern savage races, among whom we may find 
 those varieties of the human race which we believe to 
 be lowest in the scale of civilisation, whose condition 
 of culture is in the most primitive of existing states. 
 These should certainly in some sort supply our want, 
 as we have every reason to believe that while some 
 races are obviously degenerate, many of these types of 
 mankind really represent to a very great extent the 
 condition of man in remote times, before the gradually 
 and continuously accumulating experience of ages had 
 raised him from a low state of culture, when he was 
 largely dependent upon natural objects, or the forms 
 of nature but slightly modified, for his implements, and 
 when the art of manufacture was yet in its infancy. 
 
 - If we examine, for instance, the condition and 
 -mode of living of the aborigines of Australia we can 
 at once see that their state of culture is a truly 
 primitive one, — a case on the whole of arrested or 
 retarded - development, rather than one whose lowly 
 condition is due to retrogression or degeneration. 
 General Pitt Rivers has ably pointed out the evidence 
 of this.^ There is no evidence of their having in 
 former times enjoyed a higher civilisation ; their tools 
 and weapons are for the most part of the simplest kind, 
 
 1 ' Primitive Warfare, 'ybar/z. Roy. United Service Inst, , xi. No. xlvii. 
 
Evolution of Decorative Art. 15 
 
 and in many cases are merely such fairly serviceable 
 forms as are supplied ready-made by nature, such as 
 pieces of stone, shells, sharks' teeth, etc., or the forms 
 of nature but slightly improved by art ; their imple- 
 ments of wood in all cases follow in their shape the 
 natural grain of the wood ; the variety is small, the 
 same implement frequently serving both as a tool, 
 perhaps for a variety of purposes, and as a weapon. 
 The same kinds of implements are spread over the 
 entire continent, and although the actual shape varies 
 to a certain extent in the different important regions, 
 yet the persistent local differences are often so slight 
 as to be appreciable only to the natives themselves. 
 Except where civilisation has reached them, they are 
 still absolutely in their ' stone age.' Their customs, 
 religion, etc., show equally that the natives of Australia 
 are, speaking generally, in a primitive and not in a 
 degenerate condition. 
 
 Many other savage races give equally good evi- 
 dence of retarded development, of having, by reason 
 of their geographical position or from other causes, 
 remained practically in the same condition through 
 countless ages.^ They have_been, and are, progressing, \ 
 but progressing very slowly ; for the rate of progress j 
 
 1 In considering thus the natural status of savage peoples one must 
 eliminate the influence of higher civilisation resulting from their 
 comparatively recent contact with whites. 
 
1 6 Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 I increases in geometrical ratio as knowledge and 
 experience accumulate, and geographical position is a 
 prime factor in determining the rate, as isolation 
 greatly militates against the rapid increase of know- 
 
 l ledge, and the consequent quickened rate of progress 
 in culture. 
 
 The recently extinct Tasmanians aiTorded a most 
 interesting example of arrested development. Not 
 only were they still in their stone age, but the fact of 
 their never having shaped their implements of stone 
 by rubbing or polishing, but by chipping or flaking 
 only, and that of the simplest kind, and their never 
 having hafted them in handles, seems to refer back 
 their condition of culture to that of the earliest 
 palmolithic times, and to present them to the anthro- 
 pologist as survivals from almost the earliest periods of 
 human development. Their stone implements were far 
 ruder in fact than the better examples of palseolithic 
 stone work of Europe, and in variety of design ex- 
 tremely limited, and their general inferiority in work- 
 manship was unrelieved by examples which betrayed 
 in any way what might be considered as more than 
 very moderate skill in manufacture. Were it not for 
 their ruthless extermination by the savage methods of 
 intruding civilisation, which resulted in their com- 
 plete extinction in 1876, this interesting race would 
 still have been living, an instance of persistence of 
 
Evolution of Decorative Art. 17 
 
 primitive conditions which seem strange to us when 
 we think of the strides made by civilisation elsewhere. 
 We are justified, therefore, in appealing to the' 
 study of the primitive arts of savages, in order to 
 elucidate points concerning which the evidence 
 afforded by archaeology is incomplete. Assuming 
 this I will pass on to consider the light which the art 
 of modern savages throws upon the study of the 
 origin and growth of Decorative Art. By the exam- 
 ination and comparative study of various patterns 
 and designs, and especially by means of series 
 illustrating the variations upon particular designs, we 
 may arrive at certain conclusions as to how these 
 have grown up from earlier stages, and in some cases 
 trace their evolution back to their absolute origin as 
 patterns. At the same time many of my illustra- 
 tions will be drawn from the art of civilised people, 
 in which the raison d!etre and evolution of patterns 
 and designs are frequently very clear. 
 
 FIRST STAGE. 
 
 As in the useful arts so also in the fine arts we 
 find the lowest (least cultured) savages deriving their 
 early ideas from Nature. We find very much that in 
 the matter of the'^sthetic Arts the condition corre- 
 sponds with their primitive state of general culture. 
 The ornamentation, for example, of their weapons 
 
 B 
 
i8 
 
 Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 lillfi 
 
 and other implements is for the 
 most part extremely simple, fre- 
 quently, in fact, consisting of nothing 
 more than natural peculiarities in 
 I the material, it may be knots in the 
 I wood, or the nodes on a reed stem, 
 a which are slightly emphasised with 
 S colour or otherwise in order to 
 £ increase their decorative effect. 
 I General Pitt Rivers has given a 
 g good example of the adoption of a 
 •2 natural feature as ornament. In 
 ^ the collection formed by him there 
 I is an Australian ' boomerang ' of 
 
 IT, 
 
 I unusually light-coloured wood, the 
 
 I curve, as usual, following the grain 
 
 c of the wood. Along the length of 
 
 ■J the weapon in the central line are 
 
 I a number of small natural knots in 
 
 8 the grain, situated at fairly regular 
 
 I intervals. The peculiarity of this 
 
 I regular succession of knots evidently 
 
 "f attracted the notice of the maker 
 
 i5 of the weapon, and, in order to 
 
 increase the decorative effect, he 
 
 stained each knot a dark colour, 
 
 thus throwing these into greater 
 
Evolution of Decorative Art. 19 
 
 prominence upon the light ground colour, and, more- 
 over, to many of the dark patches he gave a more 
 or less lozenge-shaped outline, in order to further 
 enhance their value as ornament. 
 
 The decorative effect of the nodes upon a reed- 
 stem or bamboo, due to the regularity of their 
 arrangement, has appealed to the minds of savages 
 in various parts of the world, Australia, New Guinea, 
 Africa, and other parts, where we find spear- and 
 arrow-shafts of reed, in which the nodes have been 
 scraped smooth, and the bands thus formed round 
 the stem have frequently been picked out in black, 
 red, or white. I shall have later on to refer to this 
 treatment of reed-stems again, when I shall show 
 how from a quasi-natural decoration of this kind an 
 elaborate pattern has been evolved (p. 102), as in this 
 case there is the additional stimulus of necessity, the 
 smoothing of the nodes being an improvement to 
 the weapon made of the reed. 
 
 In these examples we have two extremely simple 
 forms of ornamentation, suggested directly by natural 
 peculiarities in the material, to appreciate and in- 
 tensify which requires but a very slight intellectual 
 effort. 
 
 Anything peculiar in the material used in the 
 manufacture of objects of every-day use would be 
 sure to attract notice, and, possibly, in the first 
 
20 Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 instance, would suggest itself as a convenient mark of 
 ownership, that is a sign whereby to distinguish the 
 particular object from other similar objects belonging 
 to other people. 
 
 From the mere appreciation of the uncommon to the 
 artificial increasing of the eiifect, the step is, as I have 
 said, but a slight one ; but in a low state of culture, 
 such as that of the less cultured savages, natural 
 progress advances by extremely slow stages, never 
 by sudden strides. The savage mmd is receptive to 
 a certain extent only, and is unable easily to gitisp 
 new ideas if they are greatly in advance of existing 
 knowledge ; they must be led up to by easy stages. 
 
 The savage peoples from whom I have drawn 
 these examples of primitive ornamentation have, it 
 is true, reached far beyond the earliest stages in the 
 art of design ; their art is no longer in its infancy. 
 The art of the Australians, as of many savage races, 
 is undoubtedly in a rudimentary state, but it never- 
 theless shows signs of steady progress during past 
 ages, in the differentiation of its branches, and the 
 skill sometimes displayed in the application of orna- 
 ment. In savage art we find, as I have said, much 
 evidence of its having been schooled by Nature, and 
 the examples of Nature-suggested forms of ornament, 
 such as those I have mentioned, seem to reflect the 
 birth of the art and to be survivals of early phases in 
 
Evohttion of Decorative Art. 21 
 
 the history of its progress ; they may, in fact, serve 
 to suggest to us how the art of design first dawned 
 in the remotest ages. 
 
 There can, I think, be little doubt that both 
 graphic and plastic arts were in the first instance 
 suggested to man in simple ways of this kind, and 
 their origin should be referred back to the time when 
 man's aesthetic appreciation of peculiarities, either 
 natural or produced as accidents in manufacture, was 
 sufficiently developed to suggest the application of 
 artificial means in order to increase their effect; in 
 other words, to control them to serve the special 
 purpose either of representation of other objects or 
 of ornament. 
 
 The first stage in the development of design as a 
 fine art was purely what may be termed an Adaptive 
 stage, that is, man simply accepted an3 adSTptgd" 
 effects which were accidentally suggested to him. I 
 shall have occasion to mention several other instances 
 illustrating this stage, when I come to deal with the 
 history of certain patterns and designs, and the 
 manner in which they first originated as such. 
 
 SECOND STAGE. 
 
 As a natural result of the appreciation and 
 adaptation of natural or accidental effects, there 
 arises a desire to produce artificially similar effects 
 
2 2 Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 where these do not exist. For this a creative 
 operation of the intellect is required, and it is here 
 that the art develops fresh importance, and assumes 
 a definite vitality. Imitation is the mother of art, 
 and is the outcome of this desire to possess some 
 object or to reproduce some effect which is admired ; 
 it is inherent in our nature, and is perhaps the prin- 
 cipal stimulus in the early development of the fine 
 arts. 
 
 ^ As a natural outcome of the development of the 
 art of copying at first hand we come to successive 
 copying, and the importance of this latter process in 
 the development and progress of the art of design 
 cannot be over-estimated. 
 
 So long as the intention in each case is merely to 
 make as accurate an imitation of the original as 
 possible, it would seem that copying, whether suc- 
 cessively or at first hand, should be considered as 
 belonging to the Second Stage ; but, as the effect of 
 this successive copying is in all cases to create 
 changes in the original design, even though un- 
 intentionally, and to render the primary conception 
 very unstable, it is necessary to treat of this under 
 the Third Stage, and to explain in connection with 
 this stage the meaning which is here assigned to the 
 expression ' successive ' copying, and the value of 
 this as a factor in the evolution of designs. 
 
Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 THIRD STAGE. 
 
 This, which is the resultant principally of suc- 
 cessive copying, may be termed the stage oi variation , 
 and must be divided into two sections : — 
 
 {a) Unconscious Variation. 
 (U) Conscious Variation. 
 
 (a) Unconscious Variation. — To a highly skilled 
 artist it is no very difficult matter to make a copy of 
 a simple object or pattern, which shall so resemble 
 the original as to be hardly distinguishable from it. 
 Witli people not specially trained, whether civilised 
 beings or uncultured savages, and so we must believe 
 also with primaeval man, it is different. In un- 
 skilled hands and with indifferent tools accurate 
 copying is an impossibility, and each new attempt 
 at representing an object creates a variation from the 
 original type. 
 
 Let us suppose that some one, whom I will call 
 A, copies an object, and B copies A's version of it 
 without having seen the original, and C copies B's, 
 and so on ; in each case the new copy varies from 
 the immediately preceding one more or less according 
 to the skill of the artist. We can readily see that 
 in the course of time by such successive copyings 
 designs can arise, which may entirely lose all 
 
24 Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 resemblance to the original object, and to A's would- 
 be realistic version of it. 
 
 It would be almost impossible to obtain from 
 specimens of savage art a really consecutive series 
 of any length to illustrate this point, as, in order that 
 one may be sure of the absolute continuity of the 
 line of succession, the series must be produced under 
 circumstances which admit of constant supervision. 
 It is, moreover, doubtful whether a long series of 
 changes in a design is often, or ever, produced 
 entirely by unconscious variation. Still, as this is 
 so important a factor in the evolution of ornament 
 and the conventionalisation of original realistic de- 
 signs, it is necessary to have some illustration of the 
 workings of this process, in order to show how rapid 
 and complete may be the changes effected by it. 
 
 With this object in view I have formed some 
 series after a method originated by General Pitt 
 Rivers and suggested to me by him some while ago. 
 Briefly thus : I first made a rough sketch of some 
 object which could easily be recognised. Then I 
 procured a number of pieces of paper of the same 
 size as that on which the sketch was made. Next I 
 enlisted the aid of a number of people who, while 
 having some notion of copying designs, were not by 
 any means skilled in the art (this in order not to 
 make the series unnecessarily long, and in order 
 
Evolution of Decorative Art. 25 
 
 to adhere to a certain extent to the conditions of 
 primitive copying ; to this end also the copies were 
 made with a pen and not with pencil, as the latter, 
 with its attendant possibilities of rubbing out, would 
 have rendered greater accuracy possible), 
 
 To the first, A, I gave my sketch, of which he 
 made as accurate a copy as he was able on one of 
 the slips of paper. I then withdrew my original, and 
 set the second person, B, to copy A's version, which 
 was then withdrawn ; the third copied B's sketch ; 
 and so on ; in every case all the former sketches were 
 withdrawn from sight, the last alone of the increas- 
 ing series being issued to be copied afresh. In this 
 manner series were formed of successive copies, each 
 of which was intended to be a faithful representation 
 of the one immediately preceding it. Still, and it is 
 to this that I wish to particularly draw attention — 
 although no two adjacent sketches exhibit very marked 
 differences, the extremes of the series show hardly 
 any resemblance to one another, and, if seen apart 
 from their series, would certainly not be recognised 
 as the same design, or as being in any way related 
 to one another. The examples here given (see 
 Plate I.) will serve to illustrate this, and, humour- 
 ous and even frivolous though they appear, afford 
 good examples of the unconscious variation of a 
 design, the result of want of skill. The successive 
 
26 Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 X,. 
 
 PLATE I. 
 
Evolution of Decorative Art. 27 
 
 sketches are numbered from i to 14 in the order in 
 which they were made. No. i is a sketch repre- 
 senting a snail crawling over a twig. In the course 
 of six successive copyings the design had lost its 
 meaning ; by No. 10 the shell of the snail had left 
 the body of the mollusk and had ' crawled ' up the 
 twig, the hinder end of the snail becoming intimately 
 associated with the base of the twig. No. 12 is a 
 copy made by a skilled artist, who was asked to 
 ' interpret ' the design at this stage, and to show in 
 his sketch what he thought it was intended to re- 
 present. The next copyist, not being able to make 
 anything of the design when viewed the right way 
 up, reversed it and proceeded with satisfaction to 
 copy it upside down, under the impression that he 
 was reproducing a 'bird' design ; so also in No. 14, 
 and in the succeeding copies which are here omitted, 
 this interpretation was retained. This truly is 
 ' evolution made easy ' ! The bird can here be traced 
 back to its gastropodous molluscan prototype, through 
 a continuous series of developmental changes of the 
 simplest nature ! The whole metamorphosis requires 
 but fourteen of these changes; covering a period, say, 
 of a day or so, and there is your bird-like form still 
 irredeemably connected with its humble prototype, 
 however much it may, if seen by itself, appear to 
 scorn such an alliance. 
 
28 Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 It is interesting to trace what becomes of the 
 various portions of the design individually. The 
 large end of the twig becomes the bird's head, the 
 growth-rings supplying the eye ; the snail's body 
 remains as that of the bird ; the snail's head, with 
 the prominent ' eye-stalks,' degenerates into the 
 forked tail of the bird ; the shell of the snail into an 
 unwieldy and unnecessary wart upon the, shall we 
 call them, ' trousers ' which were once the branching 
 end of the twig. 
 
 One more example may serve to further illustrate 
 the workings of the process (see Plate II.). 
 
 A sketch, No. i, of the head of the Patroclus, of the 
 yEgina Marbles, was submitted to be copied. In the 
 course of eight or nine successive copyings, the Greek 
 warrior became metamorphosed into a female figure, 
 a sort of helmeted Minerva, the helmet being much 
 modified from the original type. But the most 
 interesting point to notice is the ultimate fate of the 
 strongly-emphasised lines representing the muscles 
 and the collar-bones, a prominent representation of 
 which is so characteristic of Greek art. The lines of 
 the collar-bones droop lower and lower at the centre, 
 till at length they form together an elongated V, giving 
 to the later copyists the impression of a cloak thrown 
 loosely over the shoulders, and even enveloping the 
 arms, which were originally free and distinct, the 
 
Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 29 
 
 \^»L.J^\ 
 
 
 W "w 
 
 
30 Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 muscle lines going to supply folds in the mantle. At 
 No. 9, as at No. 12 in the last series, a skilled artist 
 was asked to interpret the design. 
 
 These two examples will be sufficient to show the 
 (importance of this process in the production of varia- 
 tions upon a given design, and how an original idea 
 may, through lack of skill, become modified and com- 
 pletely lost, while a new suggestion of its meaning 
 may arise and be accepted, this again in later stages 
 tending to be obscured and to become meaningless. 
 The process of ' degradation ' is hastened or retarded 
 according to the greater or less skill displayed, but 
 the design is unconsciously varied, and in no case has 
 there been any intention to make the copy differ 
 from the thing copied. Although, in order to illus- 
 trate this point with series whose continuity could 
 not be doubted, I have not drawn my examples from 
 actual savage art, still the workings of this process 
 are often very apparent in the art of the lower races, 
 as also in that of civilised peoples. 
 
 It would appear that this process was an important 
 factor in producing the remarkable series of variations 
 from the original type to be noticed in the ancient 
 Gaulish and British imitations of foreign coins, such 
 as the gold stater of Philip of Macedon, as has been 
 so well described by Dr. John Evans.' 
 
 ^ Proc. Ruyal Iiutitution, vii. p. 476. 
 
Evolution of Decorative Art. 31 
 
 Thus it may be stated that, in the early condition 
 of man's culture, conventional orjanciful design, which 
 is usually the result of such variation, has been to a 
 great extent iihconsciously evolved from realistic repre- 
 sentation, and the passage from the one to the other 
 has beein by easy stages, by successive slight changes. 
 
 It is obvious that, if instead of actually copying a 
 design, the reproduction is made from memory, the 
 process of unconscious variation will be greatly 
 hastened. 
 
 (b) Conscious Variation. — This unintentional varia- 
 tion of design is, however, frequently, usually in fact, 
 accelerated by another process, which I have called 
 conscious variation, that is to say, the desire to var y or 
 improve upon the design copied. While the two pro- 
 cesses may be associated, each contributing to the 
 changes effected, conscious variation is frequently to 
 all intents and purposes the sole agent. Some re- 
 semblance to the accepted type or model is retained, 
 but there is no idea of slavishly adhering to the 
 original in detail. This usually results in some parti- 
 cular portion or portions of the original design being 
 specially emphasised, and made thus to develop at 
 the expense of the remainder. 
 
 Conscious variation may act in many different 
 ways, and be dictated by a variety of circumstances, 
 and I now propose to give a number of illustrative 
 
32 Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 examples of its importance in the development of 
 ornamental designs, and the evolution of conven- 
 tional designs from more or less realistic originals. 
 
 On the shafts of many of the very elaborate spears 
 or lances from the islands of the Solomon group, 
 Melanesia — especially those from Bougainville Straits 
 and St. Christoval — is seen a curious pattern, carved 
 in low relief at the base of the long multibarbed head. 
 , This pattern varies to a considerable extent, as may 
 ' be seen from the examples here given, but in examin- 
 ing a number together it becomes obvious that they 
 are all modifications of one original design, that they 
 are all traceable to one primary conception, that they 
 are in fact survivals of various stages of variation. 
 By a process of associating together those of them 
 which most resemble each other, a series is formed 
 which at one end is composed of designs such as that 
 shown in Fig. loa, while at the other end we find 
 patterns of the kind shown in Fig. lo^. Between 
 these extremes are various intermediate forms, which 
 resemble the extremes more and more as theyapproach 
 them, and which are more ' generalised ' towards the 
 centre. 
 
 From such an arrangement we learn that the origi- 
 nal type was a representation of the human form, not 
 ' divine ' but grotesque, though still recognisable as 
 such. This is represented in Fig. io«, which shows the 
 
Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 2>l 
 
 body with arms and legs fully represented, though 
 the head is detached ; this latter, it will be noticed, is 
 chiefly remarkable for the very prominent angular 
 mouth. Fig. \ob shows a modification of this con- 
 ception ; the body has been split up in order to in- 
 crease the decorative effect, the arms and legs coalesce 
 with those of the corresponding figure on the other 
 side ; the face too is modified. Fig. \oc shows 
 another modification of the design, in which the 
 
 b. c. , d. t. 
 
 Fig. io. — Carved designs on Solomon Islands Spears. 
 (Pitt Rivers and Ashmolean Collections.) 
 
 various parts are still more conventionalised, the 
 reduction of the body and limbs has proceeded 
 further, the former a mere central patch, the latter 
 represented by lines down the sides which meet each 
 other across the base, forming thus a kind of frame 
 to the lower part of the design. The mouth, absent 
 in \ob, is here extremely prominent, being in fact 
 
 c 
 
34 Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 reduplicated to form a bold double ' chevron.' In Fig. 
 \od the • mouth ' is triple, and by far the most im- 
 portant part of the design, the central ' body ' patch 
 and rectangular frame still surviving. Fig. \oe re- 
 presents a perfectly conventional pattern derived from 
 the design ; the face is suppressed, while the all- 
 devouring mouth is quadrupled, and, for purposes of 
 symmetry, a corresponding number of ' mouths ' are 
 added turned the other way, forming an elegant 
 though meaningless chevron pattern. The rectan- 
 gular remains of the body and legs have, curiously 
 enough, survived the various changes which have led 
 up to the fanciful pattern, and remain to emphasise 
 the alliance of the last stages to the first. 
 
 Such a series as this cannot pretend to illustrate 
 the continuous succession of variations which have 
 led up to the conventionalised pattern, but it shows, 
 in a general way, the manner in which this has been 
 gradually arrived at. There are numerous other 
 variations upon this design, which branch off at 
 different stages. The actual genealogy of these 
 various connected patterns derived from the original 
 design of the human form upon these spears, would 
 have to be represented in the form of a tree, with 
 main stem, branches, and sub-branches. 
 
 In the same group of islands — Solomon group — a 
 very characteristic form of design is that whose 
 
Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 35 
 
 motive is a representation of the ' frigate ' bird. The 
 variations upon this theme are endless, and in many 
 cases the representation of the bird has become, by 
 a gradual process of reduction, converted into a 
 fanciful and meaningless arrangement of lines, whose 
 relationship to the original idea would be unrecognis- 
 able, were it not for survivals of earlier _stages in the 
 series. I give a sketch of one of the characteristic 
 ornaments of tridacna shell, decorated with an 
 incised design, picked out in black. 
 
 Fig. II. — Engraved shell pendant, Solomon Islands. 
 (Pitt River.s Collection.) 
 
 This example shows an intermediate stage 
 between realism and absolute conventionalism. The 
 ' bird ' idea is still distinctly recognisable, though the 
 
36 Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 wings are scrolled, and the forked tails of the 
 principal figures are confluent with other portions 
 of the design representing other frigate birds, 
 or portions of them. The- idea of ornament 
 preponderates over that of realistic representation, 
 and it is easy to see how it is that many of the 
 quite meaningless patterns of the Solomon Islands 
 have been evolved through a generalised stage of 
 this kind, from an original would-be realistic figure 
 of the frigate bird. 
 
 Some very interesting examples of variations 
 upon an original would-be realistic theme are given 
 in the Arckivos do Museo Nacional, Rio de Janeiro, 
 VI., 1885. From the very numerous figures of 
 designs representing a human face found upon the 
 pottery of the 'Mound builders' of the Amazon, 
 given in that work, I have selected the following : — 
 Fig. \2a shows one of these designs which, though 
 far from realistic, shows that it is undoubtedly 
 intended to convey the impression of a human face. 
 The eyes are prominent, the nose and mouth more 
 or less coalesced, the teeth being represented by a 
 ratchet-like row of marks. Fig. 12^ is a still more 
 conventionalised form of the face design, with 
 triangular outline ; the nose is fusiform, and there 
 are various other modifications which increase the 
 decorative effect. Fig. \2c is a more or less direct 
 
Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 2>7 
 
 V D r 
 
 ^ 
 
 ■D- 
 
 3K = ^E 
 
 -D- 
 
 r7 
 
 © 
 
 ^ 
 
 i-O 
 
 l5 
 
 ■ o 
 : o 
 
 .» 
 
38 Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 variation of b ; the eyes are missing, but the fusiform 
 nose and other portions of design b persist, as does 
 the triangular outline. Fig. \2d \s a variation in 
 another direction, it is more rectangular, and the 
 parts of the face are more completely represented, 
 the ratchet-like marks on the mouth are reproduced as 
 rays on the nose, which expands above into a figure 
 whose origin is seen in a. Fig \2e is a broadened 
 variation allied closely to d. The turned-up ends at 
 the sides are angular instead of scrolled as in d. 
 
 Fig. 12/" is a complex derivative; the eyes are 
 below the level of the nose, and the mouth is much 
 exaggerated with numerous rays. Above, under a 
 T-shaped figure, a second pair of eyes has been 
 introduced, though it is doubtful whether at this 
 point the prehistoric artist knew that the design 
 which he was making, the decorative effect of which 
 he endeavoured to increase, was derived from earlier 
 representations of faces. Fig. \2g is a design in 
 which the figure is reduplicated, the two 'faces' 
 being placed together to form one symmetrical 
 complex design ; the component elements being 
 much the same as in f, extra ' eyes ' are introduced 
 at the sides outside the figure. Fig. \2h is a 
 curiously scrolled variety, in which the eyes, nose, 
 and mouth are apparent only when viewed in the 
 light of the other examples. 
 
Evolution of Decorative Art. 39 
 
 A repetition of these designs in close proximity, as 
 seen in g, greatly augments the decorative effect on 
 the pottery, at the expense of the realism. All the 
 variations must be regarded as slight improvements 
 upon others that have gone before ; they are un- 
 doubtedly related to one another, and in all we can, 
 by comparison in a series, trace the primary idea, 
 viz., that of a human face. The larger the series the 
 more apparent does this become, as the intermediate 
 stages serve to explain the relationships more clearly. 
 A new design will frequently be influenced by a 
 number of preceding ones, and not merely be a 
 modification of a single one. This fusion of the 
 parts of several designs leads to very complex 
 derivatives, presenting frequently an apparently 
 inextricable confusion of ideas to him who would 
 unravel the separate lines of growth, which have, so 
 to speak, been plaited together in various combina- 
 tions, till at length the original conception is com- 
 pletely obscured in a web of tangled threads. 
 
 The series which I have just given may be taken 
 as illustrating the amplification of a design, and the 
 reduction of realism tor mcreased decorative effect, 
 and I will now give an example to show how a 
 design, originally intended to be both realistic and 
 decorative, may tend to disappear little by little, and 
 perhaps vanish altogether. 
 
40 Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 A very large proportion of the pottery vessels 
 made by the ancient inhabitants of Peru for holding 
 water or other purposes, are shaped so as to represent 
 animal and other forms more or less conventionalised, 
 and of these a considerable number show the human 
 form more or less grotesquely portrayed. By ex- 
 amination of a large series the stages by which the 
 original quasi-realistic design has become modified, 
 and has gradually vanished, can to a great extent 
 be made out. The following examples, selected 
 from the Peruvian pottery in the Pitt Rivers 
 Collection, will serve to illustrate, in a broad and 
 general way, the transitions. The series cannot be 
 taken as representing the history and fate of the 
 particular form of human representation shown ' in 
 No. I., but as illustrating the modification of the 
 human form conception as applied to this class of 
 pottery as a whole, involving a variety of modes of 
 treatment of this theme. I am unable to say to what 
 extent these variations in style are local differences 
 within the area of Peru, or whether each style was 
 intended to convey a special symbolic meaning. 
 
 Fig. i3« is a jug coloured red and white and 
 shaped to a human form, the representation of which 
 is almost as realistic as that in the well-known ' toby 
 jugs' of the Swaddlingcote potteries; the limbs are 
 distinctly marked and the face is well modelled. 
 

42 Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 This, though it may possibly be a late form, is given 
 as an instance of one of the more realistic examples, 
 and shows to what extent realism could be maintained 
 without materially affecting the function of the vessel. 
 In b, the face is seen to be less well represented, the 
 limbs are but faintly indicated by a slight raising of 
 the surface, the hands, which are grasping a cup, are 
 represented in complete relief, and at the extremities 
 of the legs two little bosses represent the feet or toes. 
 While the various attributes are still indicated in this 
 specimen, there is a considerable loss of definition. 
 Fig. 13 f shows a further reduction ; the face is 
 grotesque with a small snout-like projection repre- 
 senting a fusion of nose and mouth, the arms are 
 reduced to two short lateral ridges, there is no trace 
 of legs but the toes survive in the two little isolated 
 bosses unconnected with the rest of the design. The 
 face alone remains in d'^ and this in a somewhat 
 disorganised condition, though eyes, nose and mouth 
 can be seen ; the most striking feature is the great 
 prominence of the loops representing the ears. In e 
 the eyes have been suppressed, the nose and mouth 
 still struggle for existence, and the ' ears ' are doubled 
 and ornamentally scrolled. This survival of the ' ears' 
 
 ' This specimen, as also the next, though labelled Peruvian, may 
 perhaps belong rather to Ecuador as a type, but there is a continuous 
 distribution of 'face vases' from Peru northwards, and the various 
 types are probably more or less connected in their origin. 
 
Evolution of Decorative Art. 43 
 
 in an exaggerated form, in spite of the entire suppres- 
 sion of the rest of the figure, leads me to suggest( 
 somewhat tentatively that the two lateral loop-like 
 handles frequently seen upon plain examples of these 
 Peruvian pottery vessels, may have been to a great 
 extent suggested as a useful adaptation of the loops 
 representing the ears of the human figure. This may 
 have been only partly the case, as we may see many 
 examples in which very serviceable handles are 
 formed by the two arms placed high up between the 
 sides of the face and the shoulders of the vase so as 
 to form two very convenient loops ; whether ears or 
 arms were the first to suggest their possible utflity as 
 handles could possibly be determined by an examina- 
 tion of a larger series. This modification may well 
 have appealed to those to whom the practical utility 
 of the vessels was of greater moment than the fanciful 
 embellishment. 
 
 There can be little doubt that, in the series just 
 given, the disappearance of the details of the original 
 design has been effected to a great extent by un- 
 skilfulness or carelessness on the part of the potters, 
 who, while to a certain extent desirous of perpetuating 
 a design which was generally recognised as suited to 
 this class of vessel, successively allowed the various 
 attributes to drop out, leaving them to the imagina- 
 tion, as it was easier to do this than to represent in 
 
44 Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 full a somewhat complicated design, in a material 
 which in any case presented difficulties to the 
 manipulator. 
 
 Now, bearing in mind the two isolated little dabs 
 or bosses in No. 3 of the series just given, whose true 
 significance, as representing the toes of a human 
 figure, would not be clear, were they not interpreted 
 by the more complete design in Fig. 13^, it is 
 particularly interesting to recall the words of Mr. 
 R. H. Lang in a paper upon ' Archaic Survivals in 
 Cyprus' {Journ. Anthrop. Inst. 1887, p. 187), he says : 
 ' The potter of to-day at Lithodronto, when he has 
 turned his jug and is taking it off the wheel, puts two 
 little dabs of moist clay on the right and left side of 
 the rounded isurface, a little above the middle. If 
 you ask him why he does so, he will probably answer, 
 'so my father did before me,' and, in truth, the 
 archaeologist will pick you out from a pile of vases 
 disinterred from tombs 2500 years old, numberless 
 specimens with the same finishing touch, and others 
 of the same age, superior to anything which the 
 modern potter can produce, on which the two dabs 
 represent two breasts, with a female head above 
 them.' 
 
 Turning to the History of Art in Phcenida and 
 Cyprus, by Perrot and Chipiez, vol. ii. pi. 4., we see 
 one of these fine vases portrayed, showing a well- 
 
Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 45 
 
 designed female head, and below it upon the body of 
 the vase two little cones representing the breasts 
 (Fig. 14 1). No doubt the application of these little 
 
 ,., Fig. 14. — Cypriot Vase. 
 
 cones required but very slight skill upon the part of 
 the potter, and so these have survived while the face, 
 the more difficult portion of the design, has vanished, 
 leaving our less skilful modern Cyprian potter, with 
 the application of his two humble little dabs of clay, 
 to unconsciously perpetuate the memory of beautiful 
 design, and contribute this token of mourning over a 
 lost art. 
 
 Was it, however, merely want of skill or careless- 
 ' Reproduced by kind permission of Messrs. Chapman and Hall. 
 
46 Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 ness on the part of the later potters that caused the 
 original design to be thus mutilated? I think not, 
 and give the following examples in order to show 
 that perhaps, after all, accident had a great deal to do 
 with it, and that the potters had some excuse. The 
 three figures here given are taken from Schliemann's 
 Ilios (figs. 46, 989, 1 291), and represent three of the 
 interesting vases found by Dr. Schliemann during 
 his excavations at Mykenae (I am indebted to Mr. 
 Murray for permission to copy these figures). The 
 first shows very distinctly a somewhat rough re- 
 presentation of a face, with, as in the examples which 
 I have just mentioned, two little conical bosses, the 
 breasts of the female figure, below it. We notice 
 that both the face and the breasts are upon the body 
 • of the vase, the lid having no share in the design. In 
 the second example (Fig. 16), the face is seen to have 
 been transferred to the moveable lid, the breasts still 
 remaining upon the body of the vase. Now supposing 
 that the lid of such a vase were lost or broken, as 
 undoubtedly must frequently have happened,^ a still 
 serviceable vessel remains with two little bosses upon 
 it, a form of ornamentation conveying by itself no 
 information whatever to the uninitiated. A new lid, 
 to replace the lost one, would often be hurriedly 
 
 1 Several vases were found by Dr. Schliemann which had lost their 
 covers, as also loose covers without the vessels to which they belonged. 
 
Evohdion of Decorative Art. 
 
 Fig. 17. 
 Face^ases, Mvkenie (after .Si-lii;f.,„!,n„l 
 
48 Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 made without going to the trouble of reproducing the 
 old one in facsimile, a mere covering devoid of orna- 
 ment. This would appear to be the case with the 
 third example (Fig. 17), in which the lid is of a much 
 less elaborate form than in the preceding example ; 
 the breasts in this one appear in isolated glory. There 
 is no reason why a vase should not have been copied 
 in this state, and reproduced again and again, by 
 those who forgot, or never knew, the importance of 
 the design upon the cover, and who would thus 
 establish a class of vessels whose only ornament 
 consisted in two small meaningless dabs, which con- 
 tinued to be added from force of habit, and have done 
 so to the present day. If this is the true reading of 
 the series, the person to blame for the degradation of 
 this design would be the potter who, no doubt with 
 good intentions, first transferred the face from the 
 body of the vase to the less stable lid, and the modern 
 potter is entitled to some praise for laudable efforts 
 to perpetuate the only ornament which has been 
 handed down to him. 
 
 That these ' breasts ' became in themselves a re- 
 cognised, though purely fanciful, form of ornament is 
 proved by one of Schliemann's figures (fig. 58, Ilios) 
 representing a pitcher on which there appear three of 
 them ! 
 
 Such ' survivals ' occur constantly in ornamental 
 
Evolution of Decorative Art. 49 
 
 designs, though the history of the greater number isi 
 completely lost. In the cases which I have mentioned, 
 conscious and unconscious variation have worked 
 upon the same design, and the ultimate form of the 
 pattern has tended to continue unchanged through a 
 great length of time, to a great extent because of its 
 extremely simple nature, which has not suggested 
 further modification. 
 
 In further illustration of the process of conscious 
 variation, one or two examples from modern civilised 
 art may be given. 
 
 Where a particular design has a special meaning, 
 which renders its frequent repetition desirable, we 
 find it often introduced under circumstances which 
 do not admit of realism, and there will be a combina- 
 tion of ' symbolic ' with ' aesthetic ' representation ; 
 that is to say, there will be an endeavour to increase 
 the ornamental effect, at the same time retaining 
 sufficient of the attributes of the original design 
 to enable this still to be recognised in its conven- 
 tionalised form. In Chinese art the bat, considered to 
 be the precursor of happiness and prosperity, forms a 
 frequent theme for decorative design, and variations 
 upon this animal pattern occur upon a great variety 
 of objects. I give here some of the variations which 
 show greater or less degrees of conventionalisation. 
 
 The first (Fig. i8a) is a design upon the ivory 
 D 
 
50 EvoliUion of Decorative Art. 
 
 m 
 
 m 
 
 s I 
 
 u 
 
 I 
 
 
Evolution of Decorative Art. 51 
 
 mountings of a Chinese musket, and shows a bat with 
 wings and body ornamentally segmented and scrolled. 
 
 The others (Fig. i%b-f) are all designs of bats in- 
 cised upon the brass-work (lockets, pommel, chape, 
 etc.), upon the scabbard of a Chinese short sword. 
 These are of especial interest as showing the same 
 design adapted to different parts of the same object, 
 variously modified to suit the essential forms of these 
 parts ; the last sketch (/) shows a portion of a con- 
 tinuous scroll of ' bats.' 
 
 Such variations as these are due to caprice on the 
 part of the artist, tempered by the restraint imposed 
 by the limitations of available space, which must be 
 preserved in order to promote the utility of the object. 
 But under some circumstances there is a greater need 
 for variation ; there may be a definite raison d'etre 
 for a number of modifications of a particular design. 
 This is particularly well illustrated in the Japanese 
 books of family ' crests.' The crest, or totem, of a 
 whole clan will be in the first instance a realistic 
 representation of an animal or other object. Those 
 of the various branches and sub-branches of the clan 
 will be variations upon this original, the variations 
 being required in order to give distinguishing marks 
 or crests to the different families composing the clan. 
 Speaking broadly, it may be laid down that the 
 further the family is removed from the original stock. 
 
52 Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 the greater is the variation of the crest design from 
 the original concept. 
 
 The following selected illustrations will illustrate 
 this point. A crane, the emblem of longevity, is re- 
 
 a bed 
 
 Fig. 19. — Japanese 'Crest' Designs: Crane. 
 
 presented (Fig. 19a) ^ under a somewhat convention- 
 alised form, though still easily recognisable. Such a 
 design is commonly met with in Japanese art, being 
 constantly repeated for its symbolic significance. The 
 crane also does duty as a family crest, and in Figs. 
 1 9 (J to (3? three variations upon this design are shown, 
 variations created for the purpose of providing crests 
 for the various subdivisions of the ' Crane ' family, so 
 to speak. Fig. 19^ is evidently an abridgment of a 
 design resembling Fig. 19 a, the legs having been 
 omitted. In the next. Fig. 19^, the head has been 
 suppressed, leaving the long neck forming a kind of 
 stalk-like appendage to the fancifully outlined body 
 and wings. This stalk has in Fig. 19^^ grown into a 
 veritable stem upon which the body and wings 
 remain, the whole suggesting the stem and calyx of a 
 
 ' Copied, with kind permission of the publishers, from Cutler's 
 Grammar of Japanese Ornament. Fig. 22 is taken from the same 
 
Evolution of Decorative Art. 53 
 
 flower. No one, seeing this last crest by itself, would 
 dream of its avian origin, or think of referring the 
 proud owner of it to the ' crane ' gens. It neverthe- 
 less, when seen in association with the other allied 
 designs, obviously belongs to this group, the necessity 
 for variation having brought its very modified form 
 into being. 
 
 a h 
 
 Fig. 20.— Japanese * Crest' Designs: Butterfly. 
 
 Fig. 20« is a ' butterfly ' crest, in which the head, 
 body, and two pair of wings are distinctly shown, the 
 clubbed antennae lying close along the anterior 
 margins of the front pair of wings. One of the mo- 
 difications of this design is that given in Fig. zob. 
 This is a floral pattern, obviously derived from the 
 butterfly design, being composed of an arrangement 
 of ' anterior wings ' and ' antennae ' disposed around 
 a centre. 
 
 a b 
 
 Fig. 21. — Japanese 'Crest' Designs; Feathers. 
 
 In Fig. 21(3: we have a crest formed by two crossed 
 
54 Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 feathers, and Fig. 2\b\s a more fanciful modification 
 of the ' feather ' crest, being a composition of four 
 ^«^ feathers, each minus its rachis, the bases of the 
 feathers being distinguishable by the double curved 
 lines. 
 
 Hundreds of similar examples are given in the 
 Japanese ' crest ' books, which are most interesting as 
 showing the great skill, ingenuity, and true artistic feel- 
 ing which have been brought to bear in the creation of 
 variations upon the different 'totem' themes. Although 
 these perhaps do not, strictly speaking, belong to de- 
 corative art, they nevertheless serve to illustrate the 
 effects of a necessary variation of designs. 
 
 The realistic original of Fig. 19 is to be constantly 
 met with in Japanese art, in the very faithful repre- 
 sentations of the sacred crane, the bird of good omen, 
 type of longevity. Fig. 22 is very characteristic, and 
 
 Fig. 22. — Japanese ' Crane ' Design. 
 
 gives precisely that attitude which has been con- 
 ventionalised in Fig. iga, and so has led up to 
 Figs. 19^, c, a? by successive changes. 
 
Evolution of Decorative Art. 55 
 
 In the cases which I have given to illustrate 
 ' conscious variation ' the designs have been variously 
 modified, chiefly according to the individual taste or 
 caprice of the artists— though frequently carelessness 
 or lack of skill is an additional important cause ; and, 
 except in the case of the Japanese crests, the principal 
 motive for varying the designs has been the idea of 
 increasing__the^^namental effect, possibly in some 
 instances associated with the desire to create slight 
 differences to act as marks of ownership. There is 
 no important reason why from the outset one portion 
 of the design should be rendered specially prominent 
 rather than another. 
 
 Occasionally there is a definite and valid reason 
 for specially emphasising some particular portion of a 
 design. That portion may have a special significance, 
 which renders it the most important feature. In 
 reproducing such a design again and again, the 
 tendency would always be to preserve and make the 
 most of this important detail, and the rest of the 
 design would tend to sink into insignificance before 
 its encroachments, perhaps to disappear altogether, 
 leaving the principal feature master of the field. 
 
 When one small boy, if I may digress for a 
 moment, puts out his tongue at another, it is under- 
 stood that he desires to convey the impression of 
 feelings of contempt and defiance towards the other. 
 
56 Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 The action is a simple one, but conveys a considerable 
 amount of information, being, moreover, an incentive 
 to action on the other's part. It may be said there- 
 fore that, for the time being — happily usually only a 
 brief period — the protruded tongue, from the implied 
 emiDtion, becomes the most important feature of the 
 boy's face ; and, even supposing that the eyes and 
 nose were concealed, it would still convey its mean- 
 ing, and serve to stimulate the latent energy of boy 
 number two. This digression is not without its 
 purpose, as this precise point finds expression in 
 savage art. The ceremonial staves, hani, used by 
 the Maori chiefs of New Zealand, are decorated at 
 their upper extremities with carved grotesques of 
 the human face, with the eyes made of discs of 
 haliotis shell (Fig. 23 a). The most prominent 
 portion of the carved design is the enormous 
 lanceolate tongue, which is shown protruded from 
 the mouth, usually covered with an elaborate carved 
 scroll-work. The raison d'itre of this greatly em- 
 phasised tongue lies in the fact that with the Maori 
 warriors, as with our small boys, the protrusion of 
 this organ indicates defiance and contempt, and this 
 form of expression of these emotions is of con- 
 siderable importance with this warlike people, the 
 cultivation of this accomplishment forming an im- 
 portant part of the warrior's training. It is shown 
 
Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 57 
 
 in the illustration of a Maori war-dance in Wood's 
 Natural History of Man. The design then upon the 
 heads of the staves represents defiance or scorn, and 
 the mere pointing of the upper end of such a staff at 
 a foe would be sufficiently expressive. It is obvious, 
 therefore, that the tongue in this design is by far the 
 
 Fig. 23. — Carved Heads of Maori chief's Staves (a and b, Pitt Rivers Collection). 
 
 most important part, and this fact is borne out by 
 the examples given in Fig. 23 b and c. In Fig. 23 b 
 it is seen that the grotesque face has been repre- 
 sented sideways, in profile ; there is only one eye, 
 and the mouth is placed sideways, while a desire for 
 symmetry has caused a nose (or the rudiment re- 
 presenting a nose) to be inserted on either side ; but 
 
58 Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 the tongue remains as before, full-face, and this 
 example serves to illustrate the lesser importance of 
 the face, which can be varied, as compared with the 
 unalterable tongue. In Fig. 23 c (adapted from Joest's 
 Tatowiren, Plate V.) the subordination of the face is 
 complete. It has been suppressed as unnecessary, 
 while the all-essential tongue remains unchanged, sym- 
 bolic to the last, but with no context, so to speak, to 
 explain its meaning, if seen apart from other more 
 complete, and therefore more realistic, examples. 
 
 The special retention and amplification of certain 
 important portions of symbolic designs is very char- 
 acteristic of mythological and totemic representations 
 in savage art. The Haidas of British Columbia, for 
 example, frequently decorate large spaces, the sides 
 of wooden coffins, boxes, and other objects, by cover- 
 ing them completely with the eyes of the ' thunder- 
 bird,' or hands, or the two intermingled, painted 
 upon the surfaces with highly decorative effect, the 
 design at the same time retaining its symbolic 
 significance. In cases, too, where the whole of a 
 totemic animal figure is represented in a Haida 
 carving or painting, although the general character- 
 istics of the animal are not strictly adhered to, by 
 reason of the conventionalisation of outline due to 
 variation resulting from frequent repetition of the 
 design, and the desire for increased ornamental 
 
Evolution of Decorative Art. 59 
 
 effect, still there is usually retained some dis- 
 tinctive attribute or sign whereby the animal which 
 it is intended to represent may be recognised. The 
 beaver is indicated by prominent incisor teeth, 
 and may be recognised even when the characteristic 
 spatulate tail is omitted or modified ; the wolf, too, 
 is recognised by the character of its teeth ; the eagle, 
 raven, and other birds, by the shape of the beak ; a 
 high and prominent dorsal fin betrays the killer 
 whale, and so on. In this way it is possible even for 
 the untrained observer to identify many of the sym- 
 bolic figures of animals which occur upon such ob- 
 jects as totem poles, carved slate-stone pipes, etc. 
 
 Fig. 24 — Carved Pipe of slate stone, Haida, British Columbia. 
 (Author's Collection.) 
 
 One of these elaborately carved ' babeen ' pipes is 
 here represented, showing a somewhat involved group 
 of conventionalised animal and human figures. At 
 the bottom, facing towards the left hand, is a charac- 
 teristic representation of the killer whale (orca), with 
 its high dorsal fin projecting upwards, and furnishing 
 
6o Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 a support for a partly-reclining semi-human figure 
 which is represented as joining tongues with a bird 
 on the extreme left, which, from its straight beak, 
 may be intended for the raven. On the extreme 
 right is a 'butterfly' figure which is rescued from 
 being unrecognisable by the curled proboscis, large 
 round eye, and double wings, a powerful combination 
 sufficient to form a majority to prevail against the 
 alienating claims of such unlepidopteran appendages 
 as a human mouth, a well-formed arm, and a most 
 highly specialised feathered tail. The whole design 
 very probably refers to some myth or legend well 
 known to the natives themselves. 
 
 In the Hawaian Islands of East Polynesia an 
 instance parallel to that of the New Zealand gro- 
 tesques with protruded tongue is found. In this 
 case it is the mouth to which a special importance is 
 attached. In the numerous grotesque and symbolical 
 figures of the human form, ' idols ' so called by the 
 missionaries, the mouth usually appears in a very 
 prominent and exaggerated form, having a bi-lobed 
 or dumb-bell-shaped outline.^ This in many in- 
 stances occupies the greater part of the space allotted 
 to the face, and to such a degree is this carried in 
 
 ^ The late Professor H. N. Moseley gives an interesting account of 
 the amplification of the mouth in Hawaian and New Zealand figures, 
 and gives several figures illustrating his remarks (Notes by a Naturalist 
 on the Challenger, pp. 504-5 11). 
 
Evolution of Decorative Art. 6i 
 
 some examples, that the mouth entirely overspreads 
 the face, and may be said literally to swallow up the 
 rest of the design, which resolves itself, as in the case 
 of the Cheshire cat in Alice in Wonderland, into a 
 huge grin, whose affinity to an important human 
 feature is only manifest when studied in the light of 
 other less ' megastomatous ' examples, in which traces 
 of a face supply the necessary context. 
 
 The history and fate of symbolic designs has 
 recently received much of the attention which its 
 study deserves, but a very wide field yet remains 
 unexplored, inviting investigation with the promise 
 of most interesting results, which will amply repay 
 those who are willing to examine the material with 
 sufficient care. Quite recently Dr. E. B. Tylor has 
 been able to solve the mystery of the designs upon 
 Assyrian and other ancient monuments, representing 
 winged human figures holding in their hands cone- 
 like objects, which they extend towards a much 
 conventionalised palm-tree. A careful study of these 
 designs goes far towards proving that they represent 
 the artificial fertilisation of the palm-tree ; the cone- 
 like objects being really the male inflorescences of 
 the palm, which are being shaken over the fruit- 
 clusters of the female palm, in order to fully im- 
 pregnate the latter, a process of artificial fertilisation 
 which has continued down to the present day. The 
 
62 Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 symbolical nature of these representations of the 
 ' tree of life ' led to their repetition again and again 
 through successive ages, and their adoption by other 
 races. Modifications in the details and the increasing 
 conventionalisation of the design for ornamental uses 
 tended to obscure its meaning, until finally this 
 became lost, the unity was broken up, and the 
 winged figures became separated from the palm-tree, 
 though they still continued to survive as distinct 
 designs. From the palm a variety of patterns was 
 developed in different parts of the world, amongst 
 others the so-called 'honeysuckle' or 'palmette' in 
 Greek art ; while to the winged figures may be 
 traced, through a long genealogical succession, the 
 winged genii of Greek, Etruscan, and Roman art, 
 and the angels of Christianity. The two separated 
 portions of the old design might meet again in some 
 accidental association, but it would be without any 
 sign of recognition. To quote the concluding words 
 of Dr. Tylor's paper : ' It is curious to see sometimes 
 on a church wall the honeysuckle pattern bordering 
 a space round sculptured angels, and to remember 
 how far off and how long ago it was that the ancestor 
 of the angel tended the ancestor of the plant.' ^ 
 
 1 The views advanced by Dr. Tylor regarding these designs are 
 combated by W. II. Goodyear in his very fine work on the ' Grammar 
 of the Lotus;' but this question need not be discussed here, and at any 
 
Evolution of Decorative Art. 63 
 
 It is perhaps curious that designs having a sacred 
 or sytnbolic significance should have so great a ten- 
 dency to vary from the original conception. It might 
 be supposed that these at least would survive un- 
 altered, and be so preserved as to convey their 
 meaning as fully as possible. They have, however, 
 been subjected to much the same processes as other 
 more purely aesthetic designs of less serious import, 
 which might well be expected to be somewhat 
 unstable, as their retention, or suppression, could not 
 be a matter of great intrinsic importance. The 
 meaning of a symbolic design is apt to outlive the 
 realism of the design itself, and, after the representa- 
 tion has become so modified as to cease to convey 
 per se the idea to illustrate which it was created, 
 the significance remains as an heritage to the design 
 in all its disguises. It is handed down by tradition 
 from generation to generation, till at length it too 
 perhaps succumbs, and may be altogether lost, while 
 the now purely fanciful remains of the design, if this 
 has not completely vanished, as sometimes happens, 
 continues its career of metamorphosis unfettered by 
 tradition which would assign to it an importance 
 which it has failed itself to maintain.^ 
 
 rate Dr. Tylor makes out a strong case for palm versus lotus, though 
 very probably the two designs may have influenced each other. 
 
 ^ I refer in the Appendix to most interesting papers by C. H. Read 
 and Hjalmar Stolpe upon symbolic designs in Polynesia ; the two very 
 
6/\ Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 It is impossible to estimate how many of the 
 decorative designs with which we are surrounded, and 
 which we are accustomed to regard as mere orna- 
 mental patterns, could be traced, were the material 
 forthcoming, to originals having a definite signifi- 
 cance, it may be one of sacred import, to the minds of 
 those for whose benefit they were designed. Symbols 
 of the various religious beliefs and institutions of 
 Man in his different stages of culture have been 
 repeated again and again, ever with an increasing 
 tendency to vary from the original, have been trans- 
 mitted from one people to another, till all semblance to 
 the original and all knowledge of its significance have 
 vanished. The meaningless and fanciful pattern 
 which is the net result of all this continues, partly 
 from the force of habit, to be applied to aesthetic 
 purposes, and may frequently become, as decoration, 
 associated with an object to which the original 
 design would have been singularly inappropriate. 
 
 In spite of this ever present tendency to vary 
 
 accepted designs, and the many causes which produce 
 
 changes, one of the prominent characteristics of savage 
 
 art is the persistent manner in which certain types of 
 
 designs or themes are adhered to ; the conservative 
 
 nature of the mind of the savage is well exemplified 
 
 in his art of decoration. 
 
 similar pieces of work were produced independently, and almost 
 simultaneously. 
 
Evolution of Decorative Art. 65 
 
 In the application, accordingly, of the art of 
 decorative design, certain types are for the most 
 part adhered to ; and, however numerous may be 
 the variations, these will be found usually referable 
 to a few ' root ' designs, so to speak, which are 
 characteristic of the particular region. It will also 
 be noticed, as a general rule, that objects of the 
 same class are decorated with the same kind of 
 ornament, which, while varying in detail in nearly 
 every example, will continue the same in fundamental 
 idea from generation to generation. Thus, the com- 
 plete transformation of designs by the processes of 
 gradual variation is to a great extent kept in check 
 by "this inheretiTTendency to preserve ' fashionable ' 
 ideas, \vhich thus becomes an ' escapement ' to 
 govern the impulse of the thirst for change. 
 
 In the treatment of these favourite themes each 
 savage people develops its own peculiar style, or 
 what we may call its ' school,' and on this account it 
 is very usually possible to decide the locality whence 
 an object has come, with no other data to direct one 
 than the character of the ornamentation. In S.E. 
 -New Guinea art we find the human- and bird-form 
 repeated in endless variations, singly or in groups, in 
 many cases apparently mere scrolls, but nevertheless 
 referable to one or other of the fundamental themes. 
 In the Solomon group the frigate bird is very 
 
 E 
 
66 Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 constant, also associated with representations of the 
 human form. The Maori of New Zealand adopts 
 grotesques of the human face and body as his 
 principal theme ; and, in the often extremely elabor- 
 ate scroll-work which adorns weapons and other 
 objects from that country, we may frequently trace 
 the outlines of features, or the marks representing 
 the tattooing of the face which supplied originally 
 the motive upon which to ' ring the changes.' In 
 Polynesia for the most part elaborate geometrical 
 patterns obtain, produced often with a degree of skill 
 that is perfectly surprising, when we consider the 
 condition of general culture and the primitive tools 
 with which the results have been arrived at. 
 ^ In the art of civilised peoples the same is to be 
 seen, only here the complexity is very much increased 
 by the far greater number of influences at work, and 
 by frequent intercommunication. 
 
 In the case of migrations of tribes the ■ character 
 of the art of the mother country survives for a long 
 time, and decorative art may sometimes afford a 
 valuable clew in study of the affinities of races. 
 
 It must at the same time be admitted that similar 
 causes have frequently produced similar results in 
 widely separated portions of the globe, and in 
 decorative art, as in many other arts, we occasion- 
 ally find a very striking resemblance between ideas 
 
Evolution of Decorative Art. 67 
 
 which appear to have been quite independently 
 invented. 
 
 Among the very many external influences which 
 act upon designs and upset their stability, one of the 
 most constant is that of one design over another. 
 This may be in many cases merely the application of 
 the more decorative characteristics of one design 
 to give increased effect to another, which is perhaps 
 itself lacking in this respect. Frequently, however, 
 this interchange of characteristics would appear less 
 purposeful, as it is difficult to see that anything is 
 gained thereby. The association of ideas is often 
 somewhat strained ; but in the constant repetition of 
 two designs side by side, they may act and react 
 upon one another, force of habit being a prime factor 
 in the process. I have already said that in the art of 
 the Solomon Islands representations of the human 
 form, grotesques for the most part, form a very 
 frequent theme. In these carvings a very constant 
 feature is extreme ' prognathism,' the lower portion 
 of the face being represented as^ protruding in a very 
 ' simian ancestral ' manner, forming in fact a prolonged 
 muzzle or snout, which is by no means characteristic 
 of the natives themselves. 
 
 It is a gross libel upon the features of the people, 
 and its raison detre is not clear at first sight. It has 
 struck me, however, that in this we see a remarkable 
 
68 
 
 Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 case of the influence of one design over another, and 
 I think this can be borne out by the use of a few 
 examples. I give here (Fig. 25) a sketch of one of 
 the little wooden 'gods,' which are nearly always 
 affixed to the stems of the sea-going Solomon 
 Islands canoes, as charms against bad weather. 
 The carving represents a grotesque head and arms 
 of a human figure, and it will 
 be at once noticed that, seen in 
 profile, it exhibits this unnatural 
 prognathism in a marked degree. 
 Now, in constant association 
 with these human-form designs, 
 and especially so on the de- 
 corated canoes of these islands, 
 we find representations, more 
 or less conventionalised, of the 
 frigate bird, which is held sacred 
 by the natives, and which is the subject for ornament 
 most commonly met with throughout the group. 
 The characteristic long-hooked beak is usually well 
 marked in the representations of the bird, and it 
 would appear that the profile of the bird has exerted 
 a strong influence in modifying that in the representa- 
 tions of the human face. If this influence cannot be 
 absolutely proved by a comparison of the two designs 
 as they occur independently of one another, all doubt 
 
 Fig. 25. — Canoe Fetich, 
 
 Solomon Islands. 
 (Pitt Rivers Collection.) 
 
Evolution of Decorative Art. 69 
 
 is, I think, set at rest by two specimens of canoe 
 charms from Rubiana Island, which are in the 
 British Museum. In the one (Fig. 26), we see a 
 
 Fig. 26.— Bird-like Canoe Charm, Fig. 27.— Human-headed Bird, 
 
 Rubiana Island (British Museum). Canoe Charm, Rubiana Island 
 
 (British Museum). 
 
 liiceness, somewhat fanciful, it is true, of the frigate 
 bird, with its long projecting beak, hooked at the 
 end ; in the other (Fig. 27), the body and wings of 
 the bird surmounted with a human head, which very 
 closely resembles that shown in Fig. 25. It has the 
 characteristic 'cap' at the top of the head, re- 
 presenting the hair, which is sometimes further 
 indicated by the insertion of a number of little burrs, 
 giving the effect of frizzled curls. But, while the 
 head is undoubtedly intended to be human, the 
 avian character is borne out in the much drawn out 
 ' snout,' which suggests the beak of the bird. Thus 
 the two ideas become intimately associated, and the 
 one design acts upon the other ; the function of 
 both is the same, both are charms against canoe- 
 wreck, and their prophylactic properties no doubt 
 
yo Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 remain equally effective whether their form be that 
 of a human-headed bird or a bird-headed human 
 figure. One could easily multiply instances, both 
 from savage and civilised art, of similar influence of 
 one design in modifying another, but the single 
 example which I have given will suffice for an 
 illustration. 
 
 It frequently happens when a design is repeated, 
 so that two or more are brought into juxtaposition 
 and symmetrically disposed with regard to one 
 another, that an entirely new idea is produced, 
 suggesting a new ' theme ' for use as ornament, which 
 may then continue to develop and be modified upon 
 lines different from those suggested by the design 
 before it became thus reduplicated. 
 
 For an example, oiir human and bird designs will 
 again serve ; examining this time those which are 
 characteristic of the S.E. of New Guinea and the 
 neighbouring islands. The bird may be an albatross, 
 or possibly the frigate bird again, but I am not 
 aware that it has been as yet identified from the 
 usually very conventional representations, but this is 
 comparatively unimportant for our purpose. One 
 of the rather less fanciful figures of this bird is here 
 shown (Fig. 28«), and also one of the scrolled figures, 
 derived from this 'theme' (Fig. 2%b), very character- 
 istic of the region. In it may be recognised the eye, 
 
Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 71 
 
 with three concentric lines forming the head, 
 produced to form the long beak, which is hooked at 
 the end. The short lines above the beak are added 
 merely for the purpose of ' filling in ' the pattern, in 
 
 c 
 
 Fig. 28. — Bird Designs, New Guinea. 
 
 order that the surface may be more uniformly covered 
 with carving ; they_ are fragmentary repetitions of the 
 lines of the head and follow the same curve. The 
 effect produced by a pair of these bird profiles, 
 when placed together in bilateral symmetry (viewed 
 vertically), is that of a grotesque, full-face figure, with 
 two eyes, and a long tumescent nose depending from 
 them (Fig. 28 c). It is, perhaps, hard upon our 
 species to say that a figure of this kind even suggests 
 a human face, but it would, nevertheless, appear that 
 the Papuan artist did not deny the soft impeachment, 
 but, accepting the inevitable, in some cases improved 
 upon the accidental resemblance by adding a few 
 touches to increase the realistic effect ; and a great 
 number of modifications of this ' human face ' design 
 have been produced for the embellishment of clubs, 
 
72 Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 limespoons, and other objects. In some cases the 
 pattern becomes more elaborate, while in others, as 
 in Fig. 2%d, a coalescence of some of the lines 
 simplifies the design. A small volume could be 
 written upon the variations undergone by these 
 ' bird ' patterns and their descendants, but these will 
 suffice for my present purpose. 
 
 In the decoration of objects useful in the every- 
 day life of savages — such, as weapons, tools, and the 
 like — as the ornamentation has, in its earlier stages 
 at leastT'^een often necessarily influenced, if not 
 directly suggested, by the form or function of the 
 object, it is usually admirably adapted. to the latter. 
 We thus find a true balance of ornament and useful 
 form, very pleasing to the eye, and suggesting 
 considerable artistic taste on the part of the lowly 
 cultured artists. Not only do we find this to be very 
 generally the case with the decorated implements, 
 but it also holds good in the case of the beautiful 
 designs often tattooed upon different portions of the 
 body, which reach such a pitch of artistic excellence 
 amongst the Maories of New Zealand, the Marquesans, 
 the Tahitians. Here we see excellent examples of 
 the harmony of ornament with natural contour ; the 
 tattooed lines seem to ' express ' the natural features, 
 and, while this form of personal decoration hardly 
 commends itself to the more highly civilised, we 
 
Evolution of Decorative Art. y^ 
 
 still cannot but admire the good taste which prompts 
 the native artist in his difficult task. In another way 
 the elaborate tattooing of the body commends itself 
 favourably to the critical eye of civilisation ; it is 
 said to be an excellent substitute for clothes, taking 
 away from the eifect of the nakedness, so abhorrent 
 to conventionalised culturedom, in a manner that 
 would soften the heart of ' British Matron ' herself, and 
 banish the sometimes obtrusive blush of Modesty. 
 
 The proper adaptation of ornament to necessary 
 functional outline, as subordinate to the usefulness 
 of the object, is a fundamental principle which isi 
 frequently lost sight of even in the most finished' 
 works of periods of decline or 'false' art, as we 
 may see in many instances of modern pottery and 
 porcelain, and other objects whose potential use- 
 fulness is, or appears to be, seriously impaired by the 
 encroachments of ill-adapted ornament. 
 
 While, in the decoration of useful objects by 
 savage artists, we find to a very great extent a true 
 balance of ornament and form, we must, per contra, 
 admit that, frequently associated with, and resulting 
 from, very elaborate decoration is the degeneration 
 of the utility of the implement. That is to say, 
 among those savage races which are much addicted 
 to elaborate fanciful decorations, the applica- 
 tion of such ornamentation to useful objects is 
 
74 Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 frequently carried so far, as to render them unfit 
 for use, and they thus become mere ceremonial or 
 processional emblems. A good instance in point is 
 
 a. 
 
 Fig.2Q. — Ceremonial Adzes, Hervey Islands, 
 (a Ashmolean Collection) {b Pitt Rivers Collection) (c Oxford University Museum) 
 
 furnished by the ceremonial stone-bladed adzes of the 
 Hervey Islands in Polynesia. That which is figured 
 
Evolution of Decorative Art. 75 
 
 in Fig. 29 a is an example of tiie functional prototype 
 of the ceremonial forms. The blade of black basalt 
 is fixed into a large head, and carefully bound round 
 with ' sinnet ' ; the handle is slender and rounded, and 
 one which can easily be grasped in the hands for use 
 as a tool in canoe-building or other wood-work. The 
 second example, Fig. 29 b, is one in which the handle 
 has been made of considerable thickness, and has 
 been elaborately carved in a fine lacework of geo- 
 metrical design. This handle is rounded, as in the 
 last, but is far too thick to be conveniently grasped 
 for work, and, moreover, its great size causes the 
 weight of the head to be over-balanced, so that this 
 specimen is clumsy and ill adapted for use as an adze. 
 It is purely a ceremonial emblem. In the third 
 example. Fig. 29 c, a further elaboration of the handle 
 is seen. It is too large to be grasped by the hands, 
 but the increased space thus acquired forms a vehicle 
 for elaborate decoration in most intricate and cleverly 
 conceived patterns, by which the ornamental effect of 
 the implement is greatly increased, though at the 
 expense of utility. In all, the head and blade remain 
 practically the same, and, although rendered useless 
 by the abnormal growth of the handle, they serve to 
 maintain the symbolic meaning of the ceremonial 
 implement, or emblem of authority. A parallel case 
 is seen in the development of our own civic and state 
 
76 Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 maces. In these the end which was originally the 
 handle end has now become the ' clubbed ' end, 
 through the small crown, which originally embellished 
 the handle, having gradually developed into the 
 enormous head so characteristic of the modern 
 ceremonial mace ; the two ends have changed places, 
 and the sometime ' business ' end is now the smaller. 
 
 Before proceeding to discuss the natural history 
 of decorative art from another point of view, it may 
 be well to recall, by means of a brief synoptical table, 
 the main points connected with the evolution of this 
 art, as illustrated in the preceding pages. The chief 
 stages, following the first appreciation of peculiarities 
 or ornamental effects, either natural or produced as 
 accidents in manufacture, may be summed up as 
 follows : — 
 
 I. Adaptive : — The appreciation of curious or decorative 
 effects occurring in nature or as accidents in manu- 
 facture, and the slight increasing of the same by 
 artificial means in order to augment their peculiar 
 character or enhance their value as ornament. 
 
 II. Creative: — The artificial production oi similar effects 
 where these do not occur ; imitation or copying. 
 
 III. Variative: — Gradual metamorphosis of designs 
 by- 
 
Evolution of Decorative Art. yj 
 
 {a) Unconscious Variation, in which the changes are 
 not intentional, but are due to want of skill 
 or careless copying, difficulty of material, or 
 reproducing from memory. 
 
 {b) Conscious Variation, in which the changes are 
 intentional, and may be made to serve some 
 useful purpose {e.g. marks of ownership), or to 
 increase an ornamental effect ; to emphasise 
 some specially important feature in a symbolic 
 design ; to adapt the same design to a variety 
 of objects or spaces ; by the development of a 
 new idea from the modification of a pre-existing 
 design ; etc. 
 
 The effects of ' successive copying ' are paramount 
 in creating variations upon established designs whether 
 unconsciously or consciously. 
 
 Conscious and unconscious variation frequently, 
 usually in fact, act together, the changes being 
 hastened by an association of unskilful copying and 
 a desire to vary. 
 
 Sculpture and Delineation, or designs in the 
 round, and designs on the flat. 
 
 In studying the origin and characteristics of primi- 
 tive art it is necessary to separate sculpture, solid or 
 
78 Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 plastic representation, from graphic representation, or 
 delineation, although the two forms, especially in 
 their early history, are so closely allied, the one_being 
 the^areiit -ofThe other. As Mr. John Collier, in his 
 Primer of Art, has pointed out, it seems probable 
 that sculpture was the earliest means employed 
 for artificially representing such natural objects as 
 animals, the human form, etc., graphic design applied 
 .to flat surfaces being of later growth. Archaeology 
 does not materially help to elucidate this point, for, 
 as I have already pointed out, the most ancient ex- 
 amples of the art of design which have been left us as 
 a legacy by Time, prove that at the time when they 
 were produced, during the ' Cave Period,' the art had 
 already reached a high state of development, and that 
 sculpture and graphic art already existed side by 
 side. We can hardly, even in our most sanguine 
 moments, hope ever to acquire a true chronological 
 series to illustrate the actual history of art, <vhich 
 shall establish beyond a doubt the manner in which 
 its different methods arose. Our line of reasoning 
 must take a different direction. 
 
 Man, probably long before the art of decoration 
 entered into the category of his accomplishments, 
 had already evolved the art of fashioning the forms of 
 his implements in various materials', and was therefore 
 well acquainted with the working of rough materials 
 
Evolution of Decorative Art. "jc) 
 
 into desired shapes. His standard of excellence was 
 no doubt a low one, but experience, gradually 
 accumulated during long ages, had given him 
 considerable control over difficult materials, enabling 
 him to produce desired results in the shaping of his 
 tools. It is, moreover, certain that to the uneducated 
 eye a solid object representing some familiar thing, 
 appeals far more readily than an outline drawing of 
 the same, as the latter leaves so much more to the 
 imagination, and requires, therefore, a greater intel- 
 lectual effort for its appreciation. We must suppose 
 then that the birth of realistic art took place when 
 man's attention was first drawn to the accidental 
 resemblance of some natural or artificial object to 
 some well-known form, such as that of some familiar 
 animal. I have already pointed out that there is far 
 more reason for believing that art owes its absolute 
 origin to accident in this manner than that it is the 
 direct outcome of the intelligence, the application of 
 matured reasoning. 
 
 As in the case of the simple nature-suggested 
 pattern on the boomerang mentioned above (p. i8) the 
 next step, viz., the apphcation of artificial means in 
 order to increase the effect of this accidental resem- 
 blance, followed quickly upon the first appreciation 
 of it. The addition, for example, of an eye to an 
 object whose form already accidentally suggests 
 
8o Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 an animal's head, or a few touches added to such 
 projecting portions as resemble legs, are simple and 
 obvious improvements, involving but slight intellectual 
 efforts. In human activity there has always been, and 
 it can be traced far back in the animal kingdom a 
 surplus store of energy, in excess of that required for 
 the mere providing for the maintenance of life, and 
 this latenLjngour in primitive man no doubt found 
 a ready employment in these early attempts in the 
 aesthetic arts. 
 
 The carrying a little further oi the use of artificial 
 means to increase an accidental resemblance would 
 in time have suggested that the whole animal might 
 be represented by carving ; and that, therefore, any 
 substance easy to work could be fashioned into the 
 desired shape, and made to resemble animals and 
 other objects. Thus the art of carving figures grew 
 up from the simplest beginnings, through the ' appre- 
 ciative,' adaptive,' and ' creative ' stages, passing 
 almost insensibly from one to the other. 
 '^ We see traces of this piece of history in modern 
 savage culture. Savages are devout Nature-wor- 
 shippers, and to them the 'Treak^T' of Nature appear to 
 be full of mystic meaning. They are the abodes, 
 temporary or permanent, of the immaterial, super- 
 natural beings or powers of the spiritual world, which 
 have power to do good or evil, to lend assistance to 
 
Evolution of Decorative Art. 8i 
 
 man or to hinder him, according to their individual pro- 
 pensities. With proper attention the helping powers 
 may be enlisted, or the influence of bad spirits averted. 
 Tradition or experience teaches the savage that cer- 
 tain spirits have a special affinity for particular objects, 
 and, by judiciously placing these objects about, it is 
 supposed that the propitious powers will be attracted 
 into the neighbourhood of those which they particu- 
 larly affect, and so will shed the light of their benevo- 
 lence around this spot ; while, per contra, other objects 
 equally attractive to the powers of evil, and affording 
 an abode after their own heart, will prove irresistible 
 to them ; and so, by enticing them to these centres 
 the range of their malevolent influence is narrowed, 
 much as we, by placing seductive and adhesive fly- 
 papers about, limit the sphere of operations of the 
 otherwise ubiquitous buzzing fly. 
 
 Associated with the ' animistic ' ideas, which form 
 the basis of savage religion, is the doctrine which 
 teachei'that there is a close relationship, a physical 
 sympathy, between the material body and its image, 
 be this latter in the form of dream manifestations, 
 reflection, or shadow. Similarly, in accordance with 
 this doctrine, an image modelled or drawn by man, 
 in likeness of some other animate object, can be acted 
 upon so as to produce a similar effect in the original 
 of the likeness. The possessor of such an image can 
 
 F 
 
82 Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 exercise control over the original, and so it is that we 
 see primitive hunters providing themselves with charms 
 for success, in the shape of figures of the object of 
 pursuit. This doctrine gave rise to the use of waxen 
 images with which lives were supposed to be 'spelled ' 
 away in the Middle Ages, and later to the terrible 
 ' corp creidh ' of Scotland, which has continued in use 
 to the present day, and to numberless other instru- 
 ments for working magic spells, acting by ' analogy ' 
 or ' sympathetic magic' 
 
 From this it will be readily understood that any 
 real or fancied accidental resemblance in natural 
 objects to some well-known form, such as that especi- 
 ally of an animal or human being, is readily appreci- 
 ated and made use of, and may even cause the object 
 whose form suggests the resemblance to be regarded 
 in the light of a ' fetich,' endowed with mysterious 
 power. It is conceivable that nature - supplied 
 ' fetiches ' would be held in higher esteem than those 
 which have been made by the hands of man. 
 
 The Lapps, previous to their conversion to Chris- 
 tianity, were wont to make offerings to such natural 
 objects as tree-stumps or boulders, whose natural 
 form suggested some real, or more often fancied, 
 resemblance to objects connected with their primitive 
 religion, the human form being the chief of these. 
 
 A very good instance of the value put upon these 
 
Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 83 
 
 natural forms which simulate other objects, is afforded 
 by the very curious two-hooked seed-capsules of 
 Martynia (a genus of Pedaliaceae). 
 
 In the Shan States, Burma, these are valued as 
 charms against the effects of snake-bite,i and the 
 reason is not far to seek. The curious and charac- 
 teristic pair of curved hooks, whose function is the 
 
 Fig. 30.— Seed Capsule of Martynia. 
 
 dispersal of the seeds, bear a strong resemblance to 
 the two poison-fangs of a venomous snake, the body 
 of the capsule suggesting the flattened reptilian head, 
 Fig. 30. By analogy therefore these, in the estima- 
 tion of the primitive folk, must be effective as anti- 
 dotes to snake poison, and as such they are used, 
 being applied to the wound, when the poison is 
 supposed to be neutralised, or perhaps rather, we 
 
 ' I am not aware of this fact having been recorded before j the speci- 
 mens of these charms which I have received came from Mr. H. E. 
 Leveson, resident in the Shan States, to whom I am therefore indebted. 
 
84 Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 should say, the spirit of the poison is attracted into 
 the receptacle which so strongly resembles its original 
 ' natural quarters ' in the living reptile. 
 
 A similar case occurs in the 'snake-nut' (Ophio- 
 caryon serpentinum being its scientific name, a botani- 
 cal bilingual redundancy which forces the peculiar 
 character of the fruit upon our notice), the fruit of a 
 tree allied to the horse-chestnut, native of Demerara. 
 When opened, the kernel is seen to bear a striking 
 resemblance to a small coiled-up snake, with head, 
 mouth, and eyes so well shown that it is difficult to 
 believe that it is not made by human hands in imita- 
 tion of a snake. The earlier colonists were much 
 struck with the resemblance, and it was supposed 
 that this nut might, by reason of this peculiarity, 
 prove an antidote to snake poison.^ 
 
 The ginseng root, so largely cultivated in Corea 
 and China for its medicinal properties, was formerly 
 valued more or less according to its greater or less 
 resemblance to the human form, these roots having a 
 tendency to assume shapes, in which, with a slight 
 stretch of imagination, could be seen the outline of a 
 man, and special virtue was attributed to those roots 
 in which the resemblance was most realistic. 
 
 These few examples, and their number could easily 
 be increased tenfold, will suffice to show how ready 
 ^ Freaks and Marvels of Plant Life, by M. C. Cooke. 
 
Evolution of Decorative Art. 85 
 
 is the human mind to appreciate uncommon peculi- 
 arities occurring in nature, and from studying the 
 modern savage, we must believe that primitive man 
 entertained like feelings, and was glad to possess 
 strange natural forms, particularly those resembling 
 men and animals, over whom he 
 would thereby be able to exercise 
 power. But these accidental resem- 
 blances, often extremely indifferent, 
 and requiring for their appreciation 
 a considerable stretch of imagina- 
 tion, would not long have satisfied 
 him. He would very early have 
 found that a few touches here and 
 there would greatly increase the 
 likeness and enhance the value of 
 his talisman. I give a figure of a 
 piece of stone, much weathered or 
 water-worn, which bears some re- 
 semblance to the head, neck, and 
 body of an animal (Fig. 31). The 
 native of the Haida tribe of Queen 
 
 Fig. 31. — Stone Charm, 
 Charlotte Island, who picked this up, Halda, Queen char- 
 lotte Island. 
 thought that he saw a resemblance (University Museum, 
 
 to a seal in this stone, but, not being o^^ford.) 
 
 quite satisfied, added lines to represent the eyes, mouth, 
 and nostril, and so became possessed of a powerful 
 charm to ensure success in his seal-hunting operations. 
 
86 
 
 Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 The root of the ' mandrake,' always surrounded 
 with a halo of superstition on account of its frequent 
 resemblance to the human form, is still greatly valued 
 as a charm against misfortune in the East, as it has 
 been till recently in our own country. The likeness, 
 which is due to the root dividing into two below, with 
 supplementary lateral radicles, is 
 frequently aided by art, the living 
 root being carved so as to further 
 resemble a man or woman, with 
 well-formed face and limbs (Fig. 
 32), and being subsequently al- 
 lowed to go on growing for a 
 while, is then traded off upon the 
 confiding public as a curiosity in 
 natural growth, with a corre- 
 sponding endowment of super- 
 natural potency. 
 
 Primitive man, making more 
 and more use of artificial means 
 for increasing natural effects, no 
 doubt soon learnt that the whole 
 fjg. 32.— Root of the Man- rcsult could be produced by art 
 
 drake, partly carved into 
 
 human form, Asia Minor, and proceeded to make similai 
 (University Museum, Oxford.) ^^^^^^ ^^^^ materials whose ford 
 
 in no way suggested the lines upon which he should 
 work. So he gradually emancipated himself from his 
 
Evolution of Decorative Art. 87 
 
 mistress in art, Nature, and evolved the plastic art as 
 applied to modelling figures, aided no doubt by his 
 experience in shaping the implements which had long 
 been necessary for maintaining his existence. There 
 is no valid reason for believing that the art of carv- 
 ing or modelling was the outcome of a spontaneous 
 ebullition of innate and hitherto suppressed artistic 
 feeling. Though there is much in human nature to 
 render possible the moderately rapid development of 
 aesthetic tendencies, man is still subject to natural laws, 
 and we must believe that his various arts have arisen, 
 not by spasmodic bounds, but by easy stages from 
 the simplest of beginnings in the school of Nature. 
 
 Most savages find pleasure, or often, as they 
 believe, profit, in making realistic, or would-be 
 realistic, models of animals and men, in a variety of 
 materials, of which wood and clay are the chief The 
 former, doubtless, more often suggests in its varied 
 growth a form which can be improved upon ; while 
 the latter, owing to its extremely plastic nature, is 
 readily moulded into any desired shape, and lends 
 itself to the purpose. 
 
 These models are frequently of the rudest de- 
 scription, and impose a somewhat severe strain upon 
 the imagination ; but, however rude and poorly exe- 
 cuted they may be, the intention is that they shall 
 be realistic, and the greater or less resemblance to 
 
88 Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 Nature is merely a question of skill. But lack of 
 skill may of itself tend to alter the character of such 
 designs. Imperfect realism readily degenerates into 
 the grotesque, and this may partially account for the 
 great prevalence of fanciful and grotesque represent- 
 ations of objects in the art of primitive races. Another 
 reason for the great affinity for the fantastic in art is 
 that under this form more or less symbolic designs 
 may be made use of with highly decorative effect. 
 The study of the grotesque is reduced to a science 
 among the Maoris, natives of New Guinea, Haidas, 
 and many other artistic though lowly cultured races. 
 Realistic art in carving may tend to become 
 fanciful or conventional in other ways and for other 
 reasons. When once the idea of carving represen- 
 tations of objects had been evolved and had be- 
 come rooted, anything whose form and material was 
 suitable for shaping into a figure would be liable to 
 be so treated. The handle, for example, of some 
 tool or weapon might offer a surface to which the 
 carving of a portrait, say of some animal or part of 
 an animal, might be applied. This is a step toward 
 conventional carving. It is not necessary that the 
 artist should intend to decorate the implement, 
 though in some cases the figure may be added as a 
 charm to increase the effectiveness of the weapon, if 
 such it be ; the primary idea is to create a portrait, 
 
Evolution of Decorative Art. 89 
 
 the secondary result is the decoration of the imple- 
 ment ; although the design is in no way modified to 
 serve as ornament. Fig. 33 is from a photograph of 
 
 
 arK>i«9»'^<***^>*" 
 
 Fig. 33. — Esquimaux Arrow-straightener of ivory. (Pitt Rivers Collection.) 
 
 an Esquimaux ' arrow-straightener ' made of walrus 
 ivory ; in this the two ends have afforded con- 
 venient space for carving the heads of animals. The 
 artist was satisfied to represent the heads alone, 
 without the bodies, and these are intended to be 
 accurate portraits, not distorted or modified in any 
 way to suit the form of the implement, to which they 
 are well adapted, or to heighten the ornamental 
 effect. The left-hand head is that of a Polar bear, 
 the right that of a young ruminant, probably a 
 cariboo or musk-ox calf ; each does credit to the 
 skill of the primitive artist in working a hard material 
 with indifferent tools. 
 
 The application of such carvings to useful objects 
 leads to conventionalism in the representation from 
 force of circumstances, by the sometimes necessary 
 distortion of natural form or attitude, for the purpose 
 of adapting the design to the object to be thus 
 
go Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 embellished. The tool may not lend itself easily to a 
 faithful life-study ; and, in order not to impair the 
 utility of the object, the decorative must be sub- 
 ordinated to the practical form. The second example 
 of Esquimaux ' arrow-straightener ' (Fig. 34), carved 
 
 Fig. 34. — Western Esquimaux Arrow-straightener of mammoth ivory. 
 (Ethnological Museum, Berlin.) 
 
 SO as to represent a polar bear, is a case in point. 
 The artist was not satisfied with a carving of the 
 head only ; the whole animal is represented in the 
 carving, and it is at once evident that it has 
 been necessary to somewhat distort the animal's 
 attitude, in order to adapt the figure to the necessary 
 shape of the implement. The position is strained 
 and unnatural, even allowing that it represents a 
 recumbent attitude, although the general conception 
 of the design is realistic. The carved handles of the 
 horn daggers of the Cave Period, described above 
 (Figs. 3 and 4), are parallel examples. 
 
 The designs at^SrsFTinHe development of or- 
 namental carving no doubt were made as realistic as 
 
Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 91 
 
 possible under the circumstances ; but from this 
 necessary and unavoidable distortion, suggesting of 
 itself fantastic designs, frequently the idea of adher- 
 ing as closely as possible to nature has been given 
 up, and the realism has been sacrificed to ornamental 
 effect, the improvement of which has often led to the 
 original conception being completely reduced to a 
 meaningless decoration or pattern, in which the idea 
 of a real object is lost, though the decorative effect 
 may very probably be increased. 
 
 Although circumstances may be changed, old 
 associations are very tenacious and die hard, and 
 so it happens that in very 
 many instances the artificial 
 form of an object reflects 
 the earlier history of the 
 object, and gives us a clew 
 to the antecedents even 
 when examples of the 
 earlier stages are not forth- 
 coming. For instance, the 
 little scoop-like instruments 
 known as ' apple-gouges,' 
 were at first, as they fre- 
 quently still are, made from 
 the shank-bone {metacarpal) of a sheep, by simply 
 cutting away a portion of the bone so as to produce 
 
 -Apple-gouges of bone and 
 (Pitt Rivers Collection.) 
 
92 Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 a gouge-like blade (Fig. 35«). Many of the later 
 specimens are made of wood instead of bone, and 
 although the carved ornament might assume almost 
 any form, we find that the shape of the bone has 
 been faithfully adhered to (Fig. 35^), and in the form 
 of the upper end we recognise the expanded end of 
 the bone with its two rounded and ridged articular 
 surfaces, which were left in their natural state in the 
 bone prototype. A large army of instances might 
 easily be called up to show how, when a new material, 
 admitting of entirely new designs, is substituted for 
 that formerly employed, the shape imposed by the 
 older material has been copied in the new. Thus in 
 the successive changes by which we passed from 
 Stone Age to Bronze, from Bronze to Iron, it may be 
 remarked that the earlier bronze implements were 
 modelled upon the forms of the later Stone Age, they 
 in turn in their later development influencing the 
 shape of the tools of iron, when that material was 
 adopted to supersede the bronze. So too we find 
 pottery vessels in ancient Greece and in modern 
 Spain, of forms derived from the skin vessels that 
 preceded them, the aa-icihiov mimicking the aa-Koi ; 
 or in various parts of the world we can trace in 
 the_ shapes adopted in ceramic art, such proto- 
 types as gourds, shells, vessels of bark, wood, 
 basket-work, or other materials which performed 
 
Evolution of Decorative Art 93 
 
 functions assumed by pottery on the introduction of 
 the latter.^ 
 
 In connection with the art of sculpture I may 
 give one more example to illustrate how a design, 
 partially decorative, may suggest itself and become 
 adopted. 
 
 Amongst the great variety of offensive weapons 
 of savages, we frequently see clubs for the making 
 of which small trees have been uprooted, the stems 
 rounded to form handles, while the root ends have 
 been trimmed to form the 'heads,' which are ren- 
 dered the more formidable and business-like by 
 leaving the stumps of the roots projecting as points 
 or knobs on the surface. 
 
 Such a club is represented in Fig. 36 a. The 
 root-stumps are very irregularly disposed upon 
 the head, and have merely been trimmed to the 
 required shortness. A knotted club of this kind is 
 usually associated with the figures of Hercules of 
 classic sculpture. Fig. 36^ is taken from another 
 club in which the natural root-stumps are far more 
 regularly and symmetrically disposed, being arranged 
 
 ^ The evolution of form in pottery vessels has been admirably 
 treated of by Professors W. H. Holmes and Frank Gushing in the fourth 
 Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology. Mr. Petrie, whose ex- 
 cavations in Egypt we watch with so much interest, writes to me that 
 he has been ablf to trace in the form and decoration of many of the 
 ancient Egyptian pottery vessels, their prototypes of skin, indicating n 
 former nomadic life of the people. 
 
94 
 
 Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 in a radiate manner round the head. This symmetry 
 was no doubt appreciated as giving a more finished 
 and ornamental appearance to the weapon. It being 
 found on trial that such a club was the more effective 
 as a weapon for having the root -stumps remaining, 
 other clubs not similarly provided with natural pro- 
 jections of this kind, have been furnished with them 
 
 Fig. 36. — Knobbed clubs, Fiji and Australia. 
 (Pitt Rivers Collection.) 
 
 artificially, by carving projecting points upon the 
 heads, in imitation of the root-stumps. In the more 
 carefully made examples we find these knobs dis- 
 posed far more regularly than would have been the 
 case with natural growth, but they nevertheless show 
 
Evolution of Decorative Art. 95 
 
 clearly that the idea was derived directly from the 
 stumps of roots, of which they are somewhat con- 
 ventionalised imitations. A reference to Fig. 36 c 
 will make this clear ; in this specimen there are six 
 rows of points round the head. Clubs such as these 
 were the forerunners of the terrible iron maces 
 with which our scrupulous militant bishops formerly 
 armed themselves in preference to swords, on the 
 plea that they were not calculated to shed blood. 
 A truly delightful piece of sophistry ! 
 
 Here then a design suggested directly by nature 
 has become perpetuated because of its obvious utility, 
 while it has at the same time been modified in order 
 to enhance its decorative value. 
 
 Delineation or Graphic Art. 
 Let us now turn to the consideration of the 
 application of the art of design to flat surfaces, 
 Graphic Art, as opposed to sculpture and modelling 
 or Plastic Art. Mr. John Collier {Primer of Art) 
 has pointed out that it is very possible, in fact 
 probable, that the idea of representing objects by 
 means of lines upon a flat surface, was in the first 
 instance suggested by the supplementary slight 
 touches, scratched lines, added to figures carved or 
 modelled in complete relief, in order to express 
 certain details which would not otherwise appear in 
 
96 Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 the process of giving the shape. The use of such 
 lines to express certain of the less prominent 
 features is extremely common, and, the greater the 
 use of this method of giving expression, the less 
 the need of representation in the solid or complete 
 relief. Thus it may gradually have been suggested 
 that the whole object could be by means of lines 
 represented upon the flat. 
 
 The following example will serve to illustrate 
 this point, although it in no way professes to be a 
 strictly primitive example showing the actual transi- 
 tion, as the Esquimaux are well acquainted with the 
 use of lines as a sole medium of expression. The 
 ivory button or ' toggle ' (Fig. 37) has been orna- 
 mentally carved into the shape of a polar bear's 
 head, of which the general outline is indicated by the 
 shape produced. In order to express details which 
 do not appear in the general conformation, incised 
 lines have been used ; the ear, eye, nostril, and 
 mouth are thus represented, or, so to speak, sketched 
 in on one side. The mouth might certainly have 
 been carved out, but this would have involved far 
 greater labour and skill. On the reverse a design 
 representing a seal has been produced ; the shape of 
 the button, which is that of the bear's head, has been 
 partly used to express the outline of the seal, the 
 back and head being thus conveniently formed ; but 
 
Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 97 
 
 it has been necessary to express the outline of the 
 lower part of the body and the 
 flippers by means of lines, as the 
 shape of the piece does not sug- 
 gest these. Were the shape still 
 less adapted to this design, the 
 whole seal would have to be re- 
 presented by lines alone. Once 
 the idea of graphic representation 
 was acquired, the art could main- 
 tain an independent position, and 
 continue to develop upon lines of 
 its own, as new possibilities sug- 
 gested themselves in rapid suc- 
 cession, keeping pace with the 
 ipcreasing scientific knowledge, 
 and foreshadowing the perfection 
 to which it was to attain. 
 
 Be this as it may, in all savage 
 Vaces, with very few exceptions, 
 such as perhaps the Andamanese, 
 we find the custom of drawing 
 outline figures of men and ani- 
 mals, and other familiar objects, 
 upon such surfaces as bark 
 of trees, stones, and walls of caves. The designs 
 are for the most part rude, and devoid of any 
 
 G 
 
98 Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 attempt at light and shade, as this branch of 
 the art is hardly evidenced in the pictorial art of 
 savag^'ifaces.^ In these rough drawings, however, 
 frequently employed for recording events and going 
 by the name of ' pictographs,' must be found not 
 only the ancestry of our own highly developed 
 pictorial art, but also the dawn of the art of writing, 
 which has passed through the various stages of 
 picture, pictograph, hieroglyph, to phonetic and al- 
 phabetic characters or signs. 
 
 The use of colours is of extreme antiquity, and of 
 its origin we have no record. Already in the ' Cave 
 Period' their use is evidenced by the discovery of 
 shells full of red haematite, or oxide of manganese, 
 ground to a powder. It is by no means certain 
 whether the pigments were used for painting pictures, 
 or whether, as is very possible, they were merely 
 employed for daubing over the bodies of the in- 
 habitants of the caves. The custom of painting the 
 body or face with a view to personal adornment is 
 a very ancient one, and of world-wide distribution ; 
 it is very prevalent amongst the races of modern 
 savages, and we may study its survival in a 
 ' refined form ' even in the most highly cultured 
 nations of the globe. No doubt too the application 
 of colours in decorative art is of great antiquity ; all 
 modern savage peoples appear to apply it to this 
 
Evolution of Decorative Art. 99 
 
 purpose. The effect of colour applied to an object 
 may well have accidentally suggested itself, in the 
 accidental rubbing against natural colour-bearing 
 substances, which would ' leave their mark ' upon the 
 object. Such natural colouring matters as red and 
 yellow ochre, haematite, lime, charcoal, the juices of 
 some plants, etc., are commonly used as pigments by 
 even the lowest races, often mixed with fat or oil to 
 make them adhere readily ; and these must readily 
 have suggested themselves for decorative use other 
 than that of personal adornment. 
 
 Under the heading of 'flat' design, or Graphic 
 Art, I include also has relief, as I am inclined to follow 
 Mr. John Collier and others in the belief that low 
 relief has originally been in the main derived directly 
 from plain incised design, by a process of deepening 
 the incisions indicating outline and then rubbing down 
 the interspaces until the surface of the latter lies 
 below that of the design itself, which thus appears in 
 relief; rather than from the art of sculpture by a 
 process of flattening solid representations, that is to 
 say, reducing complete to partial relief In the treat- 
 ment of bas relief, once produced in the manner which 
 I have described, the methods adopted in sculpture 
 were, no doubt, to a great extent brought into play, 
 and thus, in the more highly finished examples, the 
 edges of the designs may be rounded off, and the 
 
lOO Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 surface modelled after the fashion of representations 
 ' in the round.' The design, which is begun by the 
 methods of graphic art, is finished by those of plastic 
 art. This is practically the way in which sculptured 
 has relief \% actually produced, as can readily be seen 
 in wood-carving and stone work ; and so in the 
 ' embryology,' so to speak, of bas relief we see re- 
 peated the actual history of its evolution as an art, 
 just as in the embryonic stages in the growth of an 
 animal we see reflected the phases in the evolution 
 of the species. 
 
 I have already described a simple way in which a 
 primitive form of decoration, applied to a flat surface, 
 has suggested itself when I drew attention (p. 1 8) to 
 the boomerang with its natural knots painted black 
 so as to throw them into greater prominence ; and it 
 is now my purpose to describe a pattern whose whole 
 history lies bare before us ; whose gradual develop- 
 ment may be traced back through successive stages 
 to its absolute origin, which we find in. the artificial 
 modification of a purely natural peculiarity. 
 
 Every one has been struck by the very beautiful 
 decorative effect produced by the joints, or ' nodes,' 
 occurring in regular succession upon reeds and bam- 
 boos. In their very constant use of these invaluable 
 materials, the savage has duly appreciated their 
 ornamental value, and many instances occur in which 
 
Evolution of Decorative Art. loi 
 
 
 r' ^ 
 
 III 
 
 f\\ 
 
 PLATE III. 
 
I02 Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 the nodes of reeds or bamboos have been scraped so 
 as to represent bands round the shafts of spears, 
 arrows, and the like, and these bands are frequently 
 picked out in black, red, or white. In Australia, 
 New Guinea, Africa, and other regions, we find this 
 form of quasi-natural decoration in common use. 
 While examining a large number of Melanesian 
 arrows I was recently able to trace the stages of 
 evolution of a very characteristic form of ornamenta- 
 tion occurring upon the shafts of arrows from the 
 Santa Cruz and Solomon Island groups, and to show 
 how it originated in the trimming, for convenience in 
 shooting, of the natural nodes of the reeds from which 
 the shafts are made (Journ. Anthrop. Inst. xvii. 
 p. 328 and PI. VII.) 1 Fig. i in Plate HI. represents a 
 node upon the shaft of an arrow, which has not been 
 trimmed but has been left in its rough state. In 
 order to obviate the inconvenience caused in shooting 
 by the roughness of the nodes which would rasp the 
 thumb in passing rapidly over it, these were generally 
 pared down so as to leave the whole surface smooth 
 (Fig. 2). From the fibrous nature of the substance of 
 the reed, there is always a tendency for narrow strips 
 to peel away along the length of the shaft, when 
 started by an incision, and when this happened cross 
 
 ' The plate is here reproduced with the kind permission of the 
 Council of the Anthropological Institute. 
 
Evolution of Decorative Art. 103 
 
 notches were cut to prevent the peeling going, too far 
 (Fig. 3); the result of this was a number of peeled lines 
 of varying length forming a band around the node. 
 Here was a suggestion for ornament. The removal 
 of the smooth silicious exterior caused the peeled 
 portions to become darkened with use, in the constant 
 manipulation with hands not over clean, and the 
 bands were thus thrown into greater contrast with the 
 light yellow colour of the reed. By a more careful 
 manipulation the length of these lines was controlled 
 and varied at the will of the native, and two groups 
 of graduated lines were formed, one on either side of 
 the shaft (Fig. 4). A stage has here been reached at 
 which 3. pattern has been created, whose sole function 
 is to be ornamental, and this state is further marked 
 in this specimen by the fact of these two groups of 
 lines having ceased to be in connection with the 
 actual node, commencing rather a trifle above it. 
 The paring down of the node is performed here by a 
 distinct process, similar to that seen in Fig. 2, extra 
 care being taken against encroachment upon the 
 pattern by peeling as before. At this stage, moreover, 
 the pattern is purposely picked out in black colour. 
 In Fig. 5 the groups of lines are seen to be somewhat 
 modified and increased in number. Here again we 
 find evidence of the pattern having completely lost 
 its original significance and raison d'etre, as the nodes 
 
I04 Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 in this specimen are still left in their natural rough 
 state. Fig. 6 shows a further increase in the number 
 of the groups of lines, which are now fine and incised, 
 not scraped or peeled as before ; the groups are 
 roughly in shape elongated triangles. By a coales- 
 cence of the bases of these triangles the arrangement 
 shown in Fig. 7 is arrived at. The design forms a 
 complete band round the shaft, the apices alone of 
 the groups remaining free. Complete fusion has 
 taken place in Fig. 8, the whole band is filled in and 
 no trace of grouping remains. In this specimen, 
 above the band and resting on it, the design at a 
 stage represented in Fig. 6 has been reintroduced, the 
 upper encircling line of the band taking the place of 
 the line of the node from which the design first 
 sprang. Fig. 9 shows the whole of this last-mentioned 
 arrow, and the distribution of the ornamental bands 
 upon its shaft. In the series which I have given 
 the more marked phases alone are figured, but, by 
 taking a larger number of specimens, an almost 
 complete series of gradations can be shown, illustrat- 
 ing in perfect continuity the succession of ideas, which 
 has led from the appreciation of an ornamental effect, 
 produced partly by nature, partly as an accident in 
 manufacture, to the development of a peculiar and 
 fanciful design, which can be varied at pleasure. The 
 fact of all the stages mentioned being still in use in 
 
Evolution of Decorative Art. 105 
 
 these islands, in the trimming and decorating of 
 arrow shafts, does not in the least militate against 
 their being regarded as representing the actual history 
 of the more iinished patterns ; there is no reason why 
 any of them should die out, even though they are 
 being improved upon in the various districts, and 
 they should be looked on in the light of survivals of 
 early stages, and welcomed as such for their value as 
 clews to the history of their more specialised offspring. 
 If, as I have been given to understand, the patterns 
 on these arrows in their many varied forms serve the 
 purpose of marks of ownership, by enabling the native 
 to identify his own arrows from a number, it is the 
 more easy to understand how so many variations 
 have arisen and continue to be called for, maintaining 
 a high standard of artistic skill, which is so char- 
 acteristic of the natives in question. 
 
 In an early portion of this essay I described and 
 figured (p. 12, Fig 8) an ancient Danish dagger of 
 flint, ornamented with a zigzag line chipped with 
 consummate skill along the centre of the handle. 
 Although a pattern produced in this manner cannot 
 be said to belong strictly to graphic art, it is con- 
 venient to treat of it at this point. It seems to me 
 very unlikely that the idea of adding an ornamental 
 zigzag line at so much cost of labour arose spontane- 
 ously from a pure love of ornament. It is far easier 
 
io6 Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 to believe that it was gradually led up to in the 
 course of modification in the shape of the implement. 
 This form of dagger, with its flattened handle, seems 
 to have been derived from early forms, in which the 
 handles, instead of being broad and flat, are square in 
 transverse section. In these it is obvious that there 
 are four edges to the handle, the surface view and 
 transverse section being as represented in Fig. 38 a. 
 
 ► 
 
 Fig. 38. — Portions of handles of Danish flint daggers. 
 
 Each of these edges is produced by careful chipping 
 away of small flakes alternately from either side, so 
 that each edge is in the form of a zigzag line. In 
 examples in which the handle is slightly flattened, so 
 as to produce a rhomboidal cross section (Fig. 38^), 
 the four edges are still apparent, but two of them are 
 sharp, while the other two are obtuse. The chipping 
 process is just the same as before, and the alternate 
 flaking of the obtuse edges stands out as a somewhat 
 ornamental ^waving line along the centre of either 
 surface of the flattened handle. The decorative effect 
 
Evolution of Decorative Art. 107 
 
 of the zigzag has caused it to be retained in the more 
 finished examples of daggers with broad and quite 
 flat handles, such as that figured in Fig. 8 ; in this only 
 two edges occur as continuations of the edges of the 
 blade, but along the centre of each flat side runs a zig- 
 zag line, very carefully chipped, though these are here 
 purely ornamental, and no longer necessary for giving 
 the form to the handle, but imposing rather extra 
 labour without increasing the efficiency of the weapon 
 as such, except perhaps as affording a roughened 
 surface to the grasp, and so preventing slipping in 
 the hand. In this case, then, a process of flaking, 
 originally necessary for giving the desired form to 
 the implement, has been retained as an ornamental 
 effect under altered circumstances, which rendered 
 this particular flaking no longer necessary. 
 
 Occasionally various objects used in the manu- 
 facture of different articles of use suggest a form of 
 ornamentation, as when, for example, in the manu- 
 facture of coarse forms of pottery vessels, the plaited 
 or twisted bindings, used for the purpose of keeping 
 together the moist clay shape before baking, leave 
 behind them in the baked vessel an imprint of their 
 outlines. The regularity of the markings thus pro- 
 duced suggests of itself a simple though effective 
 pattern, which has in many cases been adopted as 
 such, and perpetuated and improved upon by other 
 
io8 Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 means, after the use of the bands has died out by 
 reason of improvement in the art of kneading the 
 clay to greater consistency. In the two examples 
 here given (Figs. 39 and 40), one an ancient British 
 
 Fig. 39. — Ancient British Urn of large size, 
 
 from a tumulus, Guildford. (Pitt 
 
 Rivers Collection.) 
 
 Fig. 40. — Clay Urn (modern) made 
 
 by the Pueblo Indians of 
 
 ZuRi, New Mexico. 
 
 urn of large size, the other a modern example from 
 New Mexico, the strengthening bands have been 
 reproduced upon the surface of the vessels in slight 
 relief This pattern, with the same apparent origin, 
 is widely spread and has been independently evolved 
 in different regions of the globe. If we betake our- 
 selves to Africa we shall meet it there among some of 
 the primitive examples of native hand-made pottery ; 
 in the East, again, it would likewise confront us. 
 
Evolution of Decorative Art. 109 
 
 An allied form of decoration upon vessels of 
 pottery is that whose motive is an imitation of 
 basket work, and also string work. Mr. Frank 
 Gushing and Mr. Holmes, in the fourth Report of the 
 Bureau of Ethnology, have shown how great has been 
 the influence of basket work upon the ceramic art in - 
 its early stages, and the former ' leaves its mark ' 
 upon the latter not only in the shapes given by the 
 potter to his vessels, but also in, the surface orna- 
 mentation which he applies. The clay-lined basket 
 suggests the superiority of clay over basketry for 
 certain purposes, for cooking or for holding water, 
 and the separation through use of the clay lining 
 from the basket-work envelope presents the possibility 
 of using vessels of pottery alone, although the ad- 
 vantage of moulding these iti basket-work shapes has 
 been fully recognised. But clay, when moulded in a 
 moist state upon a basketry shape, takes the im- 
 pression of the texture of the latter, and these are 
 ' stereotyped ' in the baking. As a result we get 
 vessels of pottery whose surface is embellished with a 
 regular and beautiful, though accidental, pattern 
 which is an imprint of the basketry structure. Even 
 where basket work has not been employed in the 
 process of making a vessel of pottery, we may often 
 see, in the finishing touches, the imitation of its former 
 self-imprinted image, its effect as ornament having 
 
no Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 readily been seized upon. The ornamental imprints 
 of textiles, such as string work, weaving, and basketry, 
 upon fictile wares, are not only interesting per se as 
 examples of decoration whose history is clear, and 
 whose presence often indicates the actual use of textile 
 fabrics as supports in fashioning clay shapes, but 
 Mr. Holmes has cleverly reproduced from the per- 
 manent clay negative impressions, the actual forms in 
 positive of prehistoric North American textiles which 
 had themselves long since perished, and which would 
 otherwise have been lost to science. 
 
 General Pitt Rivers has shown in his collection 
 how the string work used for carrying gourd water- 
 vessels is in the Sandwich Islands frequently imitated 
 in colour upon the surface of gourds to which the 
 string work is no longer added, a very beautiful 
 design being thus derived. A most instructive series, 
 too, in his collection, is one which shows conclusively 
 how, upon ancient pottery vessels from Cyprus, the 
 f once realistic representation in colour of former 
 I cord supporting-bands has become, in the course of 
 ; successive modifications, reduced to a purely conven- 
 tional pattern, the later stages of which show no trace 
 of the original design, and whose history can only 
 be made manifest by means of a progressive series. 
 
 A parallel case i s to be found near at home in the 
 modern registered envelope, in which the blue crossed 
 
Evolution of Decorative Art. 1 1 1 
 
 lines added by the official pencil, or printed, repre- 
 sent the coloured string formerly used in order to 
 secure the envelopes. It has become a mere symbol 
 of a former actuality. 
 
 Similarly in Japan, I am told by Prof B. H. 
 Chamberlain, when a present is made by one person 
 to anothe;: it is wrapped up and tied round with 
 special red and white string in a special manner, and 
 further a small folded paper containing a little piece 
 of fish skin is inserted under the binding ; this latter 
 is a direct survival from times when gifts usually took 
 the form of food, the fish skin being representative of 
 a present of food, and as such it conveys in a symbolic 
 manner the fact that the parcel so done up is for 
 presentation, a gift from the sender. It has been 
 found convenient in some cases, especially in pre- 
 senting paper money, to have special wrappers or 
 envelopes in which the binding and symbolic fish 
 skin in its paper fold, instead of being actually added, 
 are represented in colour printed upon the paper, their 
 significance as symbols of presentation being con- 
 veyed equally well as in the case of the packets with 
 real binding, etc. Fig. 41 « and b show two of these 
 presentation wrappings, in the one the string binding 
 and paper with fish skin are actually present, in the 
 other they are merely represented in printing on the 
 envelope made for a gift of paper money. 
 
1 1 2 Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 jI The influence of ' force of habit ' is interesting as 
 yVstudied in the light of decorative art. It is with 
 U difficulty that we can rid our minds of the influence 
 of previous associations of ideas, and we are ex- 
 tremely apt to retain 'for old associations' sake' 
 objects or details whose raison d'etre has, under 
 altered circumstances, ceased. Why do civilised 
 
 
 A 
 
 =i^% 
 
 ^m^ 
 
 w/ 
 
 
 a Fig. 41. h 
 
 Japanese wrappers for presentations. 
 
 men adhere so tenaciously to the two isolated 
 buttons on their coats in the region of the small of the 
 back? Their original function was to enable the 
 flaps or skirts of the long coa.ts to be buttoned back 
 in riding. But in the modern 'cut-away' coat, as 
 the name implies, these troublesome flaps have been 
 removed ; while in the frock-coat in which the flaps 
 remain, these are not provided with button-holes. 
 
Evolution of Decorative Art. i r 
 
 ! Ili^ 
 
 so that in this case the office of the two button-holes 
 is equally a sinecure. Their once 
 useful and welcome presence has de- 
 generated into a state of downright 
 parasitism ; and they seem to have 
 established a freehold, persisting as 
 though to taunt us with our un- 
 originality. 
 
 In graphic ornament we find 
 somewhat similar instances of slavish 
 adherence to custom. A typical ^_ 
 instance of this is the following. 
 Some while back a regiment in the 
 Austrian army was armed with air- 
 guns in place of the regular fire-arm, 
 over which they had certain advan- 
 tages (Fig. 42). In these air-guns 
 the whole of the pneumatic apparatus 
 is concealed within the stock, and 
 consequently there is no need for any 
 external lock or lock-plate. This was 
 too radical a change in a weapon 
 which simulated a fire-arm, and out 
 of deference to ' old associations,' the 
 outline of a lock-plate has been en- 
 graved upon the weapon at the spot 
 where it would occur in the ordinary musket. 
 
 H 
 
 Fig. 42. — Austrian Air 
 
 gun (Pitt Rivers 
 
 Collection). 
 
 The 
 
1 14 Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 lines are merely ornamental, and poor at that, and 
 the outline is retained purely from force of habit ; 
 the eye is accustomed to seeing a lock-plate upon 
 guns, and something would seem to be wanting, 
 leaving an unfinished appearance, were it altogether 
 absent, whereas, in point of fact, it is quite an in- 
 congruity as applied to an fl2>-gun. It is curious, 
 too, to find that this pattern has been applied to both 
 sides of the gun, although in the ordinary single- 
 barrelled fire-arm the lock-plate would exist on one 
 side only. 
 
 When one material is substituted for another, and 
 the shape of a useful object becomes altered in con- 
 sequence, the earlier form of the object is frequently 
 indicated in the lines which may be added for 
 ornamental purposes to the new material. The 
 Andamanese afford a characteristic example of this. 
 These natives make great use of the large bivalve 
 pinna shells as food dishes or platters, each ' valve ' 
 of the shell forming a natural and very serviceable 
 plate. These are pointed at one end, and broad and 
 rounded at the other (Fig. 43 a). Wood has, how- 
 ever, been largely substituted for the purpose, and 
 while the general shape of the shell has been re- 
 tained, it has been found convenient to make both 
 ends pointed, the points affording convenient handles 
 by which to lift the dishes (Fig. 43 b). Although 
 
Evolution of Decorative Art. 115 
 
 the shape is thus altered in some examples of the 
 double pointed wooden dishes, embellished with 
 ornamental lines in red wax, a curved line of the 
 wax is added at one end (a, Fig. 43 V), to imitate the 
 rounded end of the natural shell. It is not balanced 
 at the other end with a similar line, and it is perfectly 
 evident that it has been introduced to recall the out- 
 line of the shell, which had established a claim to be 
 
 Fig. 43. — Andamanese Eating-dishes of shell and wood (Pitt Rivers Collection). 
 
 remembered by having discharged its functions in a 
 creditable manner before the wooden copy was in- 
 troduced. 
 
 Even imperfections or flaws in wood may be used 
 as vehicles for ornament. We may often notice, for 
 example, wooden clubs from the Solomon Islands 
 in the grain of which cracks or flaws have occurred. 
 
1 1 6 Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 and have been stopped up with wax or asphaltum 
 Into this wax there are sometimes 
 set numerous little flat beads of 
 shell, which form quite a pretty- 
 ornamentation. The primary idea 
 i has been to conceal the flaw as much 
 i as possible by filling it up with the 
 i . wax ; but this wax is very com- 
 ; monly employed in decorative art 
 ' as a matrix for such ornamentation 
 ■ as that afforded by these little shell 
 j beads, and so, partly apparently from 
 I force of habit, partly with the idea of 
 
 1 
 
 I turning to account even an imperfec- 
 
 r tion, the beads have been fixed into 
 
 I the wax 'stopping' to form a peculiar 
 
 i asymmetrical pattern. The associa- 
 
 j tion of ideas is interesting. The 
 
 ! specimen shown in Fig. 44 exhibits 
 
 i a long flaw in the grain of the wood, 
 
 ; a little to the right of the median 
 
 i- line. This has been stopped with 
 
 i wax and set with beads as described- 
 
 In the production of designs the 
 
 artist is often to a great extent at the 
 
 mercy of his material, as very often 
 
 a particular design which is perfectly 
 
Evolution of Decorative Art. 117 
 
 suited to one material cannot be exactly reproduced 
 in another. This is especially noticeable in the textile 
 art, which, by the geometrical construction of its 
 products, imposes a rectangularisation of outline in 
 designs which would by the ordinary graphic methods 
 be formed with curved lines. This enforced geo- 
 metricity of course varies according to the coarseness 
 of the texture or mesh, as with very fine threads and 
 close mesh curved lines may be very fairly suggested, 
 and in life designs there may be some approximation 
 towards realism. The influence of the necessary 
 structure of the material upon the character of the 
 designs with which it may be embellished is par- 
 ticularly well illustrated by the ' wampum ' belts of 
 the North American Indians. 
 
 The ' wampum,' as is well known, consists of small 
 cylindrical shell beads of two colours. The one kind 
 black, or to speak more correctly purple, wampum, 
 is made from the dark portions of the 'quahaug,' 
 known in the New York Market as the ' hard shell 
 clam' ( Venus mercenaria). The other, white wampum, 
 is made chiefly from portions of the whelk and pyriila 
 .shells. The beads are all of a size, cylindrical, and 
 drilled longitudinally. Strung together in strings, 
 they formed one of the chief circulating media of the 
 country. For forming them into the celebrated 
 wampum belts they were threaded upon short lengths 
 
ii8 Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 of string, which were placed side by side, and then 
 united by cross threads, the string work forming a 
 regular warp and woof as in weaving. Belts of con- 
 siderable size were thus produced, containing many 
 thousands of beads. The beads being of two colours, 
 rendered possible the production of patterns, some- 
 times in white upon a purple ground, sometimes the 
 reverse. These designs were, however, something 
 more than mere ornamental patterns; they were used 
 as a means for preserving records of events, and so 
 became 'documents' to which reference could be made 
 upon matters of state importance, such as treaties and 
 other transactions. The records were, so to speak, 
 woven into the belts, or ' talked into ' the patterns, 
 which thus became and remained associated with 
 particular events, and acted as reminders to those 
 whose duty it was to interpret them on special occa- 
 sions for the benefit of the rest. The office of keeper 
 of the records, or ' master of the rolls,' was an impor- 
 tant one, as upon the holders depended the proper 
 preservation of official attestations. While the 
 patterns were frequently conventional arrangements 
 of the beads, requiring a considerable effort of 
 memory for their interpretation, many of the designs 
 partook of a more realistic character. In the cele- 
 brated ' Penn belt ' two figures of men are introduced 
 (Fig. 45 ; reproduced by kind permission from the 
 
Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 119 
 
 Bureau of Ethnology Report) in purple beads upon a 
 white ground. The one figure represents an Indian, 
 the other a European, distinguished by the possession 
 of a hat and a somewhat robust figure ; the two are 
 represented with joined hands, symbohcal of an Anglo- 
 Indian treaty, and the evidence goes far towards 
 proving that this belt actually commemorates the 
 treaty concluded between the Indians and the founder 
 
 laieiasoEiniiiiiaiiiODiaiiBinnugBnnrBoiininiiiBiiEaBEliiDigiiaiiiieiiioiiiiiQiniiiiiEaEii 
 
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 iiiiiasDniiisaniQfisniiiiEitaiininDBQDiRiiiiiiaiiiiiMBieniigDiiiaJniflliiBSBei'ginnBSsossiifji 
 
 nnnaniiGiBiinnaDaEiiMQ»uwiit!iBaaDii>aiii!;iiMgiiaEiiiiiiiiQiiiflifiiiiiDemEiiiiai9Si!!Big 
 
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 EsiiiininnHiaEiiiiliiflBnaraHEBiJBfflBiiiiimiiilHaBBiiBBiiiisiDiMiiiiBeiiiiiiiBiMai^^ 
 
 IlDllllBBBBIII|lillllillltBaflBI]BaBIIBWBamiI!BBIBtmillliri!HllliaillBfilimBREIllliBSE!S!S^ 
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 fiiillDllillBljigililHIIillllll 
 
 iMiHoniOBEiiiicEiaEiGeBiHa 
 tifiiiiiiisisiiEiiiEBsiuiiinmiid, 
 
 Fig. 45. — Portion of Wampum Belt, North America. 
 
 of Pennsylvania at Shackamaxon in 1682.1 Be this 
 as it may,-that which particularly interests us here is 
 the enforced conventionalisation of the figures due to 
 the strictly rectilinear arrangement of the wampum 
 beads. Continuous lines of beads can only run 
 horizontally or vertically, and, in order to produce 
 
 ' Holmes, Bureau of Ethnology Report, 1880-81, p. 253. 
 
I20 Evolutioii of Decorative Art. 
 
 diagonal direction, broken lines have to be resorted 
 to, as is well seen in the two arms which are extended 
 to join hands in token of friendship. 
 
 Had the design been represented by drawing or 
 painting, curved lines would have been resorted to, 
 the rectilinear and rectangular severity of the design 
 in wampum would have been avoided, and a nearer 
 approach to realism would have resulted. In a mag- 
 nificent Onondaga belt fifteen such figures are repre- 
 sented holding hands, and they are even more con- 
 ventional in outline than those upon the 'Penn belt.' 
 
 Similar cases of restriction in the production of 
 designs are to be found in basketry, and designs re- 
 presenting the human form almost identical with 
 those of the wampum belts may be seen upon 
 basket-work from California, Peru, and elsewhere.^ 
 The beautiful baskets known as ' pegalls,' from 
 British Guiana, are usually adorned with elaborate 
 geometrical patterns created by the interweaving of 
 the black and yellow strips of which they are made. 
 These patterns at first sight appear to be all purely 
 fanciful, but a careful examination of some of them 
 reveals the fact that many of the designs are in reality 
 representations of animals, frogs, snakes, deer, mon- 
 keys, birds, etc., their geometrical character being un- 
 avoidably imposed by the structural characteristics of 
 
 Holmes, Bureau of Ethnology Report, 1888, pp. 234-5. 
 
Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 121 
 
 the material. I give here two fairly striking examples, 
 and in each case append a rough sketch in interpre- 
 tation, in order to show the object which it was the 
 intention of the artist to portray, so far as the material 
 in which he was working would allow him. 
 
 Fig. 46. — Portion of Basket with snake design, British Guiana 
 (Oxford University Museum). 
 
 The first example (Fig. 46) shows a ' meander '- 
 like pattern, one of a number arranged around the 
 basket. It is readily seen, however, that the two 
 ends of the figure differ from one another, the 
 left-hand termination being large and somewhat 
 
122 Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 complex, while the right is indicative of a tapering 
 extremity. When we take the figure and reproduce 
 the outline on paper, softening the asperity of the 
 rectangularity by substituting curved lines, we see 
 at once that the object represented in these figures 
 is a snake, not an altogether fanciful and generalised 
 snake either, for the broad triangular head indicates 
 that we are dealing with ^poisonous species, a whole- 
 some respect for whose powers of destruction perhaps 
 constituted a claim for the frequent representation of 
 the animal. As applied to basketry, the ' snake ' 
 figure is productive of a highly decorative effect, and 
 in other examples we may see the persistence of the 
 design in more purely fanciful forms resulting from 
 the gradual suppression of the animal idea. In some 
 of the baskets we see two ' snake ' figures partly 
 united by the fusion of the tails, so that a continuous 
 fret pattern or 'meander' is produced round the basket, 
 broken only at one point where the heads of the two 
 snakes are still manifest and independent. In others, 
 again, the heads are also suppressed, and the design 
 forms a perfectly unbroken ' meander ' round the 
 basket, the squared ' serpentine ' coils being alone 
 suggestive of the origin of the design. This example 
 well illustrates the form imposed in basketry of the 
 ' double-loop-coil,' the squaring of the curved lines of 
 the latter figure being unavoidable. 
 
Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 123 
 
 The animal portrayed in the second example (Fig. 
 47) is perhaps less manifest at first sight than in the j 
 last. Still, when we substitute curves for the rectan- 
 gular lines of the figure, no doubt can remain in our^^ 
 minds that the object represented is a ' spider- ,1 
 monkey,' very probably the ' coaita' {Ateles paniscus). 
 
 ,_,„,,,,$ :-,^t^S>^««i^S*^. 
 
 Fig. 47. — Portion of Basket with Monlcey designs, British Guiana 
 (Oxford University Museum). 
 
 a common and characteristic animal in Guiana. The 
 form of the head, body, and limbs would by no means 
 necessarily lead us to this conclusion. It is the tail 
 
124 Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 that betrays the spider-monkey. This organ, by a 
 curious case of ' analogy ' and ' meeting of extremes,' 
 performs very much the same functions as the trunk 
 of the elephant, being extremely sensitive at the 
 extremity, and very prehensile. The characteristic 
 coiled-up extremity of the long tail is well indicated 
 in the necessarily conventional representations in the 
 baskets, and supplies us with the clew to the inter- 
 pretation of the design (see the sketch of a spider- 
 monkey below the basket-work design). In the 
 design two figures are brought together with the 
 idea of symmetry, though we might almost suppose 
 that the two together represented a monkey on the 
 banks of a river, with its inverted reflection in the 
 water below it. We need not, however, grasp at a 
 shadow and attribute Narcissian propensities to this 
 group of animals, nor imagine that the juxtaposition 
 of the two figures was due to other aims on the part 
 of the artist than a desire for a symmetrical disposal 
 of his patterns. 
 
 The conventional representation of objects im- 
 posed by the nature of the material, which does not 
 admit of realism, is equally manifest in the designs 
 produced in weaving cloth, etc. The production of 
 any but the simplest geometrical patterns in weaving 
 is at all times difficult, and involves a considerable 
 expenditure of skill and labour, and the tendency 
 
Evolution of Decorative Art. 125 
 
 for curves to become, rectangles is very marked. 
 The realistic representation of familiar objects is 
 practically impossible, and we consequently find that 
 designs which are suggested by nature, and are 
 primarily would -be imit a tion s of natural objects, 
 become very fancifully treated, the TmpossibiTity of 
 anything approaching accurate delineation giving a 
 stimulus to improvement in the direction of purely 
 decorative treatment of , the design ; the more 
 aesthetic attributes are again and again selected at 
 the expense of the symbolic effect. The degree to 
 which distortion is enforced depends largely upon 
 the fineness of the mesh or closeness of texture, as 
 with the use of fine threads closely woven together 
 some approach towards continuous curved lines can 
 be effected, though great skill is required ; while with 
 coarse intersecting warp and woof the design cannot 
 free itself from the unconcealable structural details, 
 the sections of the threads as they appear on the 
 surface being too obviously units, which can, in 
 conjunction, form continuous lines only in a horizontal 
 or a vertical direction, the diagonals being composed 
 of broken lines in which the units are fully manifest, 
 just as in the case of the wampum belts. Wherever 
 attempts have been made to produce the forms of 
 nature in weaving, we may see, to a greater or less 
 degree, this enforced tendency towards convention- 
 
126 Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 alfeatioii and the substitution of straight lines for 
 curves. The ornamented cloth from the old Peruvian 
 graves affords many striking examples, and Messrs. 
 Reiss and Stubel figure numerous specimens in their 
 work on the Necropolis of Ancon. Here we see 
 birds, beasts, and human figures innumerable, whose 
 partly imposed grotesque forms have been readily 
 accepted as valuable for decorative purposes, and 
 altered in various ways till realistic or synibolic 
 outline is practically entirely sacrificed to aesthetic 
 effect. The substitution of conventional patterns 
 for the crude and stiff bunches and garlands of 
 flowers, which till recently adorned our English 
 carpets, and were laboriously produced by misguided 
 though painstaking ladies, in wool work for chair- 
 backs and seats, is interesting as an instance of the 
 transition from designs unsuited to the material to 
 those well adapted to it. 
 
 The seemingly most complicated patterns are 
 frequently nothing more than simple ones repeated 
 over and over again in various geometrical combina- 
 tions. As has been remarked by Owen Jones 
 {Grammar of Ornament), \}as. Fijian furnished with a 
 simple wooden stamp, cut, say, in the form of a 
 triangle or lozenge, can print upon his ' tapa ' cloth 
 a number of coloured triangles or diamonds, arranged 
 in any order, which can be varied at pleasure, and 
 
Evolution of Decorative Art, 127 
 
 give rise to apparently complex geometrical patterns. 
 In this manner a combination of simple elements can 
 produce elaborate and complex results even in the 
 hands of the least cultured. 
 
 The suggestion of complex forms of decorative art 
 warns me that I should bring this essay to a close at 
 this point. It is more particularly with the simplest 
 forms of the art that I have had to deal, and I must 
 leave the complex and the higher achievements of 
 civilisation, the outcome of the accumulated ex- 
 perience of long ages of progress, to be unravelled 
 by those who are better qualified than I to do so. *i_ 
 
 It has been my main .object in this essay to point 
 out the value of a proper study of art among the 
 less cultured races of mankind, as bearing upon the 
 question of the actual origin and growth of Decorative 
 Art, and as throwing light upon a subject for the 
 study of which Archaeological evidence is per se 
 very incomplete. From a study of the condition of 
 Art as occurring especially amongst the less cultured 
 modern races of mankind, though to a great extent 
 also that of civilised peoples, we may at least arrive 
 at some general conclusions as to the actual origin 
 and growth of Decorative Art, and form our con- 
 jectures as to the dawnings of an art which has 
 played so important a part in beautifying our 
 surroundings, and in subduing the monotony of a 
 
128 Evolution of Decorative Art. 
 
 too matter-of-fact existence. The changes which 
 we see taking place in the arts of the present day 
 are but the magnified reflection of what has gone 
 before during long ages. Especially do we see the 
 truth of the time-honoured saying, ' Natura Artis 
 Magistra ;' and it may be said with truth that the 
 alphabet of every art has been learnt in the school 
 of Nature, while the grammar, too, is modelled upon 
 her teaching. Appreciation, adaptation, and, lastly, 
 creation, are stages in the development of an art 
 from Nature's models, which follow one another in a 
 natural sequence. 
 
 Art is not a thing of spontaneous origin, but of 
 slow and gradual, though constant, growth, ever 
 changing, with a tendency to advance from the 
 simple to the complex ; and, while we may study 
 and compare its fluctuations in the past, and view 
 the changes which it undergoes in the present, 
 and speculate as to its beginnings, 
 yet in nowise can we fore- 
 tell what will be 
 The End. 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 I HAVE thought it advisable to append a list of works 
 bearing upon the subject of the growth of Decorative Art, 
 in case the reader may care to pursue further a subject to 
 which the present incomplete sketch can at the best be 
 regarded as only an introduction. The list does not in 
 any way pretend to be a complete one, but comprises a 
 few of the works from a very scattered literature which are 
 recommended to those who seek further and fuller informa- 
 tion. 
 
 George Harris — 'The Theory of the Arts,' 1869. 
 Owen Jones — ' Grammar of Ornament,' 1878. 
 
 Brough Smyth — ' Aborigines of Victoria,' i. pp. 238, 
 
 295- 
 John Collier — ' Primer of Art,' 1882. 
 
 Reiss and Stubel — 'The Necropolis of Ancon,' 1880- 
 1887, especially plates 102, 103, 
 104. 
 W. H. Holmes—'- Prehistoric Textiles of the United 
 States derived from Impressions 
 on Pottery,' Bureau of Ethnology, 
 iii. p. 397, Washington. 
 ' Art in Shell of the Ancient Ameri- 
 cans,' Bureau of Ethnology, iii. 
 ' Origin and Development of Form 
 I 
 
1 30 Appendix. 
 
 and Ornament in Ceramic Art,' 
 ib. iv. p. 443, 1886. 
 'Ancient Art of the Province of 
 
 Chiriqui,' ib. vi. p. 13, 1888. 
 A study of the Textile Art in its 
 Relation to the Development of 
 Form and Ornament,' ib. vi. 
 
 P- 195- 
 
 ' Textile Art in Prehistoric Archaeo- 
 logy,' American Antiquarian, Sept. 
 1886. 
 
 'On the Evolution of Ornament,' 
 American Anthropologist, 1890, 
 
 P- 137- 
 'Studies in Aboriginal Decorative 
 Art,' American Naturalist, v. 
 pp. 67 and 149, 1892. 
 F. H. Cushijig — ' A study of Pueblo Pottery,' Bureau 
 of Ethnology, Rep. iv. 1883, 
 
 P- 473- ■ 
 F. W. Putnam. — 'Conventionalism in Ancient Ameri- 
 can Art,' Bull. Essex Institute, 
 Salem, xviii. p. 155. 
 J. S. Kingsky — ' Conventionalism in Ancient Ameri- 
 can Art,' American Naturalist, 
 1887, p. 713. 
 H. Balfour — ' Evolution of a Characteristic Pattern 
 on the Shafts of Solomon Islands 
 Arrows,' Journ. Anthropological 
 Inst., xvii. p. 328, 1888. 
 C. H. Read — ' Origin and Sacred Character of 
 Certain Forms of Ornament in 
 
Appendix. 1 3 1 
 
 the S. E. Pacific,' ib. xxi. p. 139, 
 1891. 
 H. Colley March — ' The meaning of Ornament,' Trans. 
 Lane, and Cheshire Antiq. Soc, 
 1889. 
 Hjalmar Stolpe — ' UtveckUngs Foreteelser i Natur- 
 folkens Ornamentic,' Ymer, 1890, 
 p. 193, Stockholm. 
 E. B. Tylor — 'The Winged Figures of the Assyrian 
 and other Ancient Monuments,' 
 Proc. Soc. of Bibhcal Archaeology, 
 June 1890. 
 Lazare Popoff — ' Origine de la Peinture,' Revue 
 Scientifique, 27th Sept. 1890. 
 W. Martin Conway — ' Dawn of Art in the Ancient World,' 
 1891. 
 W. H. Goodyear — ' Grammar of the Lotus,' 1891. 
 W. K. Leihaby — 'Architecture, Mysticism, and Myth,' 
 1892. 
 A. C. Haddon will shortly publish a Memoir on the 
 Art of British New Guinea, and a 
 small book on 'Savage Art.'