A large cloak from Ica is embroidered with designs representing a man
with a bow and headdress (fig. 39). The figures are the same all over,
except that the position and the objects they hold alternate right and
left. The color scheme, however, varies: there are six distinctive
types. Considering only the colors of coat, legs and face we may
arrange them in the following order:
Coat. Legs.
1. Yellow dark blue
2. purple red
3. red dark blue
4. blue dark yellow
5. black dark blue
6. dark blue black
Face, above. Face, below.
1. dark yellow black
2. yellow white
3. brown dark yellow
4. blue red
5. brown dark yellow
6. dark yellow light yellow
The fifth and sixth type correspond in the rest of their color schemes
to the third and second types.
[Illustration: Fig. 39. Peruvian embroidery from Ica.]
The general arrangement of these types is as follows:
1 2 3 4 1 2 3a 4 1 6 5a 4 1
3 4 1 2 3 4 1 6 5 4 1 2 3 4
2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 6 5 4 1 2 3
4 1 2 3 4 1 6 5 4 1 2 3 4 1
3 4 1 2 3 4 1 6 5 4 1 2 3 4
1 2 3 4 1 6b 5 4 1 2 3 4 1 2
4 1 2 3 4 1 6 5 4 1 2 3 4 1
2 3 4 1 6 5c 4 1 2b 3c 4 1 2 3
1 2 3 4 1 6 5 4 1 2 3 4 1
In the actual arrangement there are apparently three mistakes. In the
first horizontal line, the two figures marked with the note _a_ have
been exchanged. In line six and line eight the two figures marked with
the note _b_ have been transposed and in line eight the two figures
with the note _c_ have been exchanged. It will be seen that when these
transpositions have been effected the diagonal lines running from the
first row down to the left, follow a regular alternation of types. Type
6 is clearly related to 2, and type 5 to 3. Since in quite a number of
woven garments regular diagonal sequences may be observed, it seems
likely that these were particular determinants of the style. There are
in all, six different types, but if we imagine the lines continued, it
would be found that the same order will occur after twelve lines. The
embroidery does not represent a regular six-unit design but is rather
a four unit design of two distinct types—1 2 3 4 and 1 6 5 4,—in which
the former type is repeated twice and the latter once.
Similar observations may be made on the fabrics illustrated in Reiss
and Stübel’s “Necropolis of Ancon”. I have selected a few specimens
that illustrate the rhythmic repetition of color. Figure 40[34]
represents a band with red background on which are animal figures in
the following sequence:
_purple_, yellow, _green_, yellow, _white_, yellow, _green_, yellow
in other words a sequence of eight units consisting of one purple and
one white design interrupted by the symmetrical color sequence yellow,
green, yellow. The yellow designs are surrounded by a heavy black
border.
[34] Reiss and Stübel, Necropolis of Ancon, p. 67 b, fig. 3.
[Illustration: Fig. 40. Peruvian fabric.]
[Illustration: Fig. 41. Peruvian fabric.]
In figure 41[35] we have another band which consists of diagonal
patterns framed by red lines except in one place where a black frame is
found. As on the preceding specimen the black serves to separate the
red and yellow. The design is the same all through, and the order of
the elements as follows:
[35] Ibid, p. 67, fig. 6.
yellow red yellow brown yellow
black frame black zig-zag red frame red zig-zag red frame
blue-green yellow purple
red zig-zag red frame red zig-zag
In other words the essential sequence is yellow, red, yellow, brown,
yellow, blue-green, yellow, purple; a series of eight elements.
[Illustration: Fig. 42. Peruvian fabric.]
In figure 42 we find a border of simple interlocking S shaped designs
in the order, white, dark blue, light blue, yellow, brown; a series of
five elements which are repeated regularly.
[Illustration: Fig. 43. Peruvian fabric.]
Figure 43 represents a part of a design on a poncho in which, from
above downward we have a series of six pairs of a fret design in the
following arrangement:
green, red
yellow, blue
white, purple
yellow, brown
light red, black
the sixth line repeats the color sequence of the first.
Figure 44 is a somewhat complicated design which is not completely
shown in the section here represented. The principle of the pattern is
illustrated in figure 44_b_. The sequence of color of the S shaped head
design is purple, yellow, green, on a red background.
In figure 45 we have a decorative band with the color sequence yellow,
green, yellow, green, light yellow, white, yellow, green, yellow;
obviously a series of six units. The designs on the background of these
colors are all in red.
[Illustration: _b_]
[Illustration: Fig. 44. Peruvian fabric.]
[Illustration: Fig. 45. Peruvian fabric.]
[Illustration: Fig. 46. Peruvian fabric.]
In figure 46 a border is shown which has the color arrangement, from
left to right:
pink—black,
red—yellow,
light gray—dark gray,
black—pink,
yellow—red,
dark gray—light gray.
In this specimen there is a systematic inversion of color values; what
is light in the first set of three is dark in the second three. This
tendency is quite marked in a considerable number of cases. We have for
instance, a series of
white, red, yellow;—gray, pink, yellow,
where the white corresponds to the dark gray and the red to the light
pink.
The tendency to this repetition of colors is shown very clearly in
Mexican codices. For example in the Codex Nuttall, p. 82 (fig. 47),
we find in the figure in the left hand lower corner a base in which
stepped triangles are used with the sequence: yellow, red, black,
yellow, purple, reddish brown. On the same page, the feather fringes
on the coats of the figures represented are in the same order. Quite
a number of feather dresses may be found in which the same order is
preserved, as for instance on page 81 of the same Codex. The order
in which these colors are given runs sometimes from left to right;
sometimes from right to left, as for instance in the feather dress of
the lowest left hand figure, page 81. Sometimes a different set of
colors is used. On the feather headdress of a figure, page 75, we find
the order:
white, red, yellow, blue, purple, brown,
white, purple, yellow, blue, red, brown (twice),
and the latter order is repeated in figures found on page 67 in the
left hand lower corner on a base; in reverse order on page 67 on a
feather coat and also on page 62 in stripes on the figures in the lower
right hand corner. It seems that in this codex the order of colors is
quite definitely fixed.
Remarkable rhythmic repetitions are found also on bead work from the
Zambesi. On quite a number of specimens the following order of colors
is regularly repeated:
_Black_ white red yellow _green_ yellow red white. Or written in
another way: _Green_ yellow red white _black_ white red yellow.
[Illustration: Fig. 47. Patterns from Mexican Codex.]
These occur on a belt, a woman’s apron, a necklace, and on two
mats[36]. In a number of places blue is substituted for green, and
brown for red.
[36] Muller et Snelleman, L’industrie des Caffres dans le sud-est de
l’Afrique. Pl. XIX figs. 3, 5, 7. Pl. XXIV figs. 1, 2.
The rhythmic repetition and symmetry appears most clearly when we
substitute numbers for colors. I designate
White 1, Red 2, Yellow 3, Brown 3′, Blue 4, Green 4′, Black 5.
According to the description of the belt first mentioned, as given by
the authors, there is a regular repetition in the following order:
1 2 3 | _4_ | 3´ 2 1 | _5_ | 1 2 3 | _4´_ | 3 2 1 | _5_ |
1 2 3 |4´|
The same order is found on the handle of an axe which is decorated with
colored zig-zag lines[37].
[37] _Ibid._, plate XI, fig. 1.
On a pouch[38] there is a lower field arranged in rows of diamonds,
followed by a middle field consisting of zig-zag bands, and an upper
field consisting again of diamonds.
[38] _Ibid._, plate XXIV, fig. 3.