Origin and Development of Form and Ornament in Ceramic Art. | Page 3

+FORMS DERIVED BY IMITATION.+
Clay has no inherent qualities of a nature to impose a given form or
class of forms upon its products, as have wood, bark, bone, or stone. It
is so mobile as to be quite free to take form from surroundings, and
where extensively used will record or echo a vast deal of nature and of

coexistent art.
In this observation we have a key that will unlock many of the
mysteries of form.
In the investigation of this point it will be necessary to consider the
processes by which an art inherits or acquires the forms of another art
or of nature, and how one material imposes its peculiarities upon
another material. In early stages of culture the processes of art are
closely akin to those of nature, the human agent hardly ranking as more
than a part of the environment. The primitive artist does not proceed by
methods identical with our own. He does not deliberately and freely
examine all departments of nature or art and select for models those
things most convenient or most agreeable to fancy; neither does he
experiment with the view of inventing new forms. What he attempts
depends almost absolutely upon what happens to be suggested by
preceding forms, and so narrow and so direct are the processes of his
mind that, knowing his resources, we could closely predict his results.
The range of models in the ceramic art is at first very limited, and
includes only those utensils devoted to the particular use to which the
clay vessels are to be applied; later, closely-associated objects and
utensils are copied. In the first stages of art, when the savage makes a
weapon, he modifies or copies a weapon; when he makes a vessel, he
modifies or copies a vessel.
This law holds good in an inverse ratio to culture, varying to a certain
extent with the character of the material used.
Natural originals.--Natural originals, both animal and vegetable,
necessarily differ with the country and the climate, thus giving rise to
individual characters in art forms often extremely persistent and
surviving decided changes of environment.
The gourd is probably the most varied and suggestive natural vessel.
We find that the primitive potter has often copied it in the most literal
manner. One example only, out of the many available ones, is
necessary. This is from a mound in southeastern Missouri.

In Fig. 464, a illustrates a common form of the gourd, while b
represents the imitation in clay.
[Illustration: a, Gourd. b, Clay vessel. FIG. 464.--Form derived from a
gourd.]
All nations situated upon the sea or upon large rivers use shells of
mollusks, which, without modification, make excellent receptacles for
water and food. Imitations of these are often found among the products
of the potter's art. A good example from the Mississippi Valley is
shown in Fig. 465, a being the original and b the copy in clay.
In Africa, and in other countries, such natural objects as cocoanut shells,
and ostrich eggs are used in like manner.
Another class of vessels, those made from the skins, bladders, and
stomachs of animals, should also be mentioned in this connection, as it
is certain that their influence has frequently been felt in the
conformation of earthen utensils.
In searching nature, therefore, for originals of primitive ceramic forms
we have little need of going outside of objects that in their natural or
slightly altered state are available for vessels.
[Illustration: a, Shell. b, Clay. FIG. 465.--Form derived from a conch
shell.]
True, other objects have been copied. We find a multitude of the higher
natural forms, both animal and vegetable, embodied in vessels of clay,
but their presence is indicative of a somewhat advanced stage of art,
when the copying of vessels that were functionally proper antecedents
had given rise to a familiarity with the use of clay and a capacity in
handling it that, with advancing culture, brought all nature within the
reach of the potter and made it assist in the processes of variation and
development.
Artificial originals.--There is no doubt that among most peoples art had
produced vessels in other materials antecedent to the utilization of clay.

These would be legitimate models for the potter and we may therefore
expect to find them repeated in earthenware. In this way the art has
acquired a multitude of new forms, some of which may be natural
forms at second hand, that is to say, with modifications imposed upon
them by the material in which they were first shaped. But all materials
other than clay are exceedingly intractable, and impress their own
characters so decidedly upon forms produced in them that ultimate
originals, where there are such, cannot often be traced through them.
It will be most interesting to note the influence of these