[Illustration: Fig. 24. Patterns from bamboo combs, Malay Peninsula.]
[Illustration: Fig. 25. Design from bamboo spear, New Guinea.]
[Illustration: Fig. 26. Etruscan vase.]
[Illustration: Fig. 27. Peruvian designs.]
On objects that are frequently seen from different sides are found
forms that are symmetrical both ways, when seen right and left and when
seen up and down. Examples of this are the Australian shield fig. 22
(p. 33), and the parfleches of the North American Indians (fig. 89,
p. 97). On objects of similar character made by the same technical
processes and by the same tribe, such as rawhide bags (fig. 28) double
symmetry may also occur.
[Illustration: Fig. 28. Painted rawhide bags, Shuswap, British
Columbia.]
[Illustration: Fig. 30. Carved board Kaiserin Augusta Fluss, New
Guinea.]
In circular forms the diameter is often the axis of symmetry. In
other cases symmetrical fields are radially arranged and there may
be a number of repetitions. The circumference takes the place of the
horizontal, the radius that of the vertical (fig. 29).
[Illustration: Fig. 29. Designs of the Dayak.]
In a number of cases we find instead of normal symmetry an inversion of
the two symmetrical halves so that what is above to the right, is below
to the left. Arrangements of this type are, however, less numerous than
true symmetry. Such forms occur in New Guinea. They are due to the
decorative development of the two branches of a double spiral (fig.
30). This form results sometimes from circular rhythmic repetitions in
which the whole circle is filled by two or more units. This is found
for instance, in pottery from the southwestern Pueblos (fig. 31) and
also quite commonly in Central America.[26]
[26] See, for instance S. K. Lothrop, Pottery of Costa Rica and
Nicaragua, New York, 1926, Plates 39, 46, fig. 195.
[Illustration: Fig. 31. Designs from pottery of the ancient Pueblos.]
Other figures resulting from rotation, that is from a decorative
pattern applied rhythmically in the same direction, as for instance
the swastika and S shaped figures occupying the center of a decorative
field, present the same type of inverted symmetry. The same treatment
is found in the art of ancient Scandinavia (fig. 32).
[Illustration: Fig. 32. Bronze ornament, Sweden, 7th Century A. D.]
[Illustration: Fig. 33. Design from Peruvian textile.]
A curious development of this decorative device is applied in the art
of ancient Peru. On many fabrics we find patterns consisting of a
diagonal arrangement of squares or rectangles. In each diagonal the
same design is repeated, while the next diagonal has another type. In
each diagonal line the design is shown in varying positions. If the
one faces the right, the next faces the left. At the same time there
is an alternation of colors, so that even when the form is the same,
the tints and the color values will not be the same. A characteristic
specimen of this type will be described later on (p. 47).
The plan of one of these designs is illustrated in fig. 33.[27] There
are eight rectangular fields with two designs (1 and 2); those right
and left of the middle line and those above and below the horizontal
middle line are symmetrical in regard to form. In color, 1 corresponds
to 1^b and 1^a to 1^c; also 2 corresponds in color to 2^b and 2^a to 2^c.
The colors being in all these cases, on the whole, reversed. 1, 2, and
1^b, 2^b have a yellowish background and a red field surrounding the
tree shaped design; 1^a, 2^a and 1^c, 2^c have a light red background
and a greenish field surrounding the tree shaped figure. The whole
field, consisting of four sections, is followed in the whole decorated
stripe by another set of four sections in form like the preceding one.
In this the background of 1 and 2, 1^b and 2^b is blue, of 1^a, 2^a
and 1^c, 2^c yellowish. The field surrounding the tree shaped figure
is yellowish in 1 and 1^b, greenish in 1^a, and 1^c. Taken as a whole,
the right side is practically the same as the left, turned upside down.
The order of fields on the left from the top downward and for the right
side from below upward, is according to the color of the background,
abbreviating, r red, y yellow, b blue:
r r y y / y y b b / r r y y / y y
b b / r r y y / y y b b / r r y y /.
[27] Walter Lehmann, Kunstgeschichte des alten Peru, Berlin 1924,
Plates 3 and 4.
[Illustration: Fig. 34. Designs from Peruvian textile.]
A second example is shown in fig. 34. In this specimen the diagonally
arranged fields marked 1, _a_, 2, _b_ [28] have the same color scheme.
[28] These remarks refer also to the fields marked as 1′, 1″ etc.
The larger fields in 1 are yellow, the lesser black. The larger fields
in 2 are pink, the lesser grey. The background in _b_ is grey, the
scroll purple. The background in _a_ is dark grey, the scroll light
purple.
[Illustration: Fig. 35. Pot of coiled pottery, Prehistoric Pueblo
Indians.]
Another fundamental element of decorative form is rhythmic repetition.
Technical activities in which regularly repeated movements are employed
lead to rhythmic repetition in the direction in which the movement
proceeds. The rhythm of time appears here translated into space.
In flaking, adzing, hammering, in the regular turning and pressing
required in the making of coiled pottery, in weaving, regularity of
form and rhythmic repetition of the same movement are necessarily
connected. These rhythmic movements always produce the same series of
forms. Examples of rhythmic surface forms determined by perfect control
of a technique are found in many industries and in all parts of the
world. Exquisite regularity of flaking is found in the Egyptian flint
knives (see fig. 5, p. 21). It is not so frequent in the flaking of
American Indians. The adzed boards of the Indians of the North Pacific
Coast bear chipping marks of great regularity that give the appearance
of a pattern (figs. 6, p. 23 and 18, p. 30). On surfaces that are to
be painted these marks are often polished off with grit-stone or shark
skin, while on unpainted parts they are kept, presumably on account of
their artistic effect. In Oriental metal work the strokes of the hammer
are so regular that patterns consisting of flat surfaces originate.
Other examples of the artistic effect of the regularity of movement
are found in the prehistoric corrugated pottery of the North American
South West. The coils are indented by pressure of the fingers and a
series of indentations form a regular pattern on the surface (fig.
35). The effect of automatic control is seen nowhere more clearly than
in basketry, matting and weaving. It has been pointed out before (p.
20) that evenness of surface results from regularity of movement. The
rhythmic repetition of the movement leads also to rhythmic repetition
of pattern. This is most beautifully illustrated by the best examples
of California basketry.
The virtuoso who varies the monotony of his movements and enjoys his
ability to perform a more complex action, produces at the same time a
more complex rhythm. This happens particularly in weaving and related
industries such as braiding and wrapping with twine. Skipping of
strands,—that is twilling (see fig. 17, p. 30) is the source of many
rhythmic forms and twilling is undertaken by the virtuoso who plays
with his technique and enjoys the overcoming of increased difficulties.
[Illustration: Fig. 36. Necklace of Thompson Indians.]
In many cases rhythmic complexity is clearly the result of careful
planning. I have referred before to the rhythmical arrangement on
fringes of the Thompson Indians of British Columbia, (p. 29).
Another good example (fig. 36) is a double necklace in which the
rhythmic series is—
black, red, yellow, green, blue, green,
both in the inner and outer lines while the connecting links have the
order
black, red, yellow, green, red, blue.[29]
[29] In this specimen (see American Anthropologist, N. S., Volume 24,
1922, p. 188), the connecting links between the two strings have been
misplaced, the inner string of beads being shifted three units to the
right, i. e. the central connecting link is attached to the first
yellow bead to the left of the red center; the others being shifted
correspondingly. They have been corrected here so as to bring out the
arrangement which was evidently planned.
Dr. Reichard[30] has discussed a number of other examples from the
same region which have similar characteristics. In one example the
arrangement of the fringe elements is more complex than in the one
previously described. Designating different colors by numbers and
dentalia shells by D, we find the order