Meyer Franz. A Handbook of Ornament
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EEPEATING ORNAMENT.
291
Various
Diapers. Plate
178.
19*
292
REPEATING
ORNAMENT.
Plate 179.
Various
Diapers.
REPEATING
ORNAMENT.
291:
Various Grill
Diapers.
Plate 180.
294 Various Diapers.
3.
Lace, 16th century,
German, by Hans Siebmacher.
4.
Stamped leather,
book-cover, 17th century, (Gewerbohalle).
5
Textile, German
Kenascenco, (Mnsteromamonte).
6.
Carpet, Rottweil,
German Renascence,
(Gewerbehalle),
7.
Modem Japanese silk, (L'art pour tons).
8.
Painted
gold ground, St. Lorenzo, Rottweil, end of the 15th
century,
(Musteromamente).
9.
Carpet,
Stiftskirche, Comburg, beginning
of the
17th
century,
(Musteromamente).
10.
Textile,
Venetian
picture,
1560,
Berlin Museum, (Gewerbohalle),
Various Grill
Dl&pers.
(Plate
180.)
V7rought-iron
Grills may
also be
treated
as
Diapers; and Railings
and Gratings
are often
treated as
shown
by the
figures
in
the Plate.
The skeleton
is formed
by bars
interlaced
on
the
basis of the
quadran-
gular or
lozenge
Net;
the compartments being filled, either
con-
tinuously,
or at regular
intervals, with recurring ornamental accessories
(figs.
1, 2,
5
and
6).
Another
system
places a repeating
scroll-like ornament between
parallel bars (fig.
3).
The straight lines of
the skeleton may also be
replaced
by curved
bars (fig.
4).
The
material
is square, round, and flat iron bars; either
singly,
or
in combination.
Both the Middle Ages and the Renascence
have
transmitted
numerous examples in this branch; a selection
is
given
in the Plate.
Plate 180.
Vaeious
Grill
DiApees.
1.
Late Gothic,
choir-screen, minister,
Constance,
15th century.
2.
German Renascence.
3.
Italian Renascence.
4. Modem,
by
Ende and
BQckmann, Berlin,
(Gewerbehalle).
5. German,
17th
century.
6.
German Renascence.
•
296
PREFATORY
REMARKS.
The third
division of the
Handbook is entitled
"Decorated
Objects". It is
intended,
firstly, to
show in what manner
and on
•what
principles Decoration is
applied to
objects, (thus
complement-
ing
the
work
of the second
division);
and secondly,
it
will
pass a
little beyond the strict
limits of
Aisthetics,
and
enter
on the
sphere
of Tectonics,
in
order to
present a
view of
the construction,
profiling
and general
plan of
objects
of art, e.
g.
Vases, Utensils,
Furniture,
&c.
These considerations,
and the
wish to
be
as
comprehensive as
possible, have necessitated the
inclusion of
some objects
which are
not
decorated. This
inclusion will
increase the
bulk of the Book;
but the selection
of objects will be
restricted, as
much as possible,
to those which illustrate
the Principles
of
Decoration.
A.
VASES.
Vases, with which this
division opens,
are
one of
the
most
interest-
ing and important
of its
groups. Gottfried Semper, who
has treated
Keramics brilliantly in his epoch-making work
"Der Stil", says in
the introduction
to
the
chapter
on this subject: "The products
'of
Keramic
art
were held in unusually high esteem by all peoples
and
in all periods. They had attained
a
religious symbolical
significance
long before the times of monumental edifices,
which latter, indeed,
were greatly influenced
by
the former; directly,
in that Keramic
works served for the construction and ornamentation of the
monu-
ments; indirectly, because architecture took up
principles
of
beauty
and
style and even finished
forms
which had already been developed in
Keramic
work, and had first been fixed
by
the art
potters
of pre-
architectural
times" "They
are
the oldest and most
eloquent docu-
ments
of history.
Show us the pottery which a
nation has produced,
and_
we can in general
tell what manner of
nation it was and
what
height of culture
it had attained!"
Professor
Gmelin, who, in his
essay:
"Die Urformen
und Gestaltungsprinzipien der
Topferei" and in
his work: "Die
Elemente
der Gefassbildnerei", has
attempted with
much
success to popularise
Semper's theories, says:
"A bit of Dar-
winism
is here unfolded
in the sphere of industry:
the way in which
the development
of man
has
been influenced by
climate, the character
of the soil, food,
&c.,
finds
its parallel in Keramics in
the formation
of
vessels as conditioned
by the joint causes of
aim, material, and
technique".
298
Vases.
How far
Pottery goes back to
prehistoric
times, is
proved
by
the calculations
made from
the alluvial deposits of the
Nile valley,
and the geological
conditions on the coasts of Scandinavia,
which give
us the respectable age
of
10
000 to 12
000
years
for the
pottery
discovered in those spots.
The circumstance that,
besides satisfying
the needs of daily
life. Pottery was used in religious
and
funeral
rites,
more especially
the custom of
placing
vessels in
the grave
of
the
departed, of
enclosing the
ashes of the
dead in urns
before com-
mitting them
to
the earth,
has at any rate preserved
to
us
certain
kinds of
pottery,
of which,
otherwise, only sherds and fragments
had
remained.
By Keramics
we
understand not
only
earthen-ware, but the
design
and making
of vessels in
general.
Next
to
the
various clays, glass,
and
metals,
which have
the first claim
on our
attention, stone,
wood, and
ivory,
along with other less
common materials,
are
the substances
generally used. Each of
these Materials imparts its own character
to the vessels made of it;
the corresponding technique will
limit
or
modify
the Form. A
metal vessel requires
form
and decoration
diffe-
rent from one
of glass
or porcelain;
the profile of a clay
vase cannot
be made in marble without much modification. On the
other
hand the
Purpose, for which the vessel is
intended,
wiU influence
the choice
of
the Material;
so
that
a
reciprocal interaction
arises, which
stimulates
to
the
study of Keramics, and makes it
charming and
instructive.
That the majority of the examples
in this group of
pottery have
been
taken
from
the
Antique,
is
due
to
the fact that
this epoch offers
a general
picture complete
in
itself;
and that it
is
chiefly
in the
Greek style that
the
above-mentioned reciprocal
interaction,
regularity
of form, and
tectonic
principle are, on
the average, most
clearly ex-
pressed. That,
on
the other hand, we have
brought the
constructions
of
other
countries and periods into
suitable connexion
with the Antique,
arises
from our
wish to
meet the wants and requirements
of our
time
in
a
greater degree than can
be
done by
monographs
of
Greek
Keramics
alone, such as
we
possess in
a
large
number of special
wocks*.
In view, of the immense
importance of Antique
Keramics and
of
Clay
as a
material
in
general:
it
may
be
well to
offer here a few
general
remarks
on
this
subject,
reserving ovir
observations
on other
materials and styles till the
elucidation of the plates
in question.
Pottery is
generally made
on the potter's
wheel. In Egypt,
India, and
*
Among
Buch works whose size, get-up, and
text render them
suitable
for
school and educational purposes, we may
mention:
Th. Lau:
die griechischen Vasen, ihr
Fonnen-
und Decorationssystem.
44
Tafeln mit einer historischen
Einleitung
und erlilutemdem
Text
von
Dr.
Brunn
und
Dr.
Krell. Leipzig: E. A.
Seemann.
A.
Genick:
gricchische Keramik. 40
Tafeln
mit Einleitung
und Be-
schreibung
von Adolf
Furtwangler. Berlin :
Ernst Wasmuth.
Vases.
299
Mesopotamia,
the use of
this
important implement of civilisation goes
back
to the very earliest times. The mural paintings of
Beni Hassan,
which
have been refen-ed
to
the
19th
century
B. C,
show that
pottery
was then already known;
while Germany did
not use pottery before
the Roman
peiiod;
and
America, previous to the
anival
of
Europeans,
was only
acquainted with the formation
of pots
by
hand,
in
spite
of
the
great achievements of the
Peruvians.
The formation of
pottery
by hand,
is still in
use
in many
countries. To
this class belongs
the
building-up
with zonal or spiral strips, and the
moulding over plaited
moulds or
gourds which are then destroyed in the
firing. Wooden
and
stone moulds were used
in
early times; and also
in modern
times
in
connection wdth the wheel. At
the outset,
people con-
tented
themselves with drying the clay;
afterwards
drying
was
followed
by firing. An intermediate stage
is
to
fire beneath a
covering
of
cow-dung, the air being
excluded;
when the smoke
penetrates into
the clay, and colours it
gray
or
black.
Originally
only smoothed
and polished, the vessels were
afterwards
rendered
more
impervious
to
liquids
by
being painted
with
a
Varnish,
such as
IS
seen on
Greek vases; and by the
discovery of the
tin and lead
Glazes,
such as are found on
the
so-called
"majolica ware".
The
porosity, of
many oriental
vessels, is
intentional, in
order that the
contents may
be kept cool by the process of
evaporation on the sur-
face
of the vessel.
Of the chemical composition
of these ancient
Varnishes,
we are not so well informed as we could wish.
Antique
pottery
is
found
in all
places where ancient civilisation
penetrated;
but the
principal sources are: Greece,
Sicily, and Italy,
particularly
Campania
and Etruna. To
this latter circumstance
is
ascribed the
erroneous
use of
the
name
"Etruscan", in the last
century,
as
a collective name
for antique pottery
in general. Athens,
Corinth,
and
Chalcis, were
the chief factories of pottery
in
Greece; and
Ta-
rentum
and
Cumae in Italy,
where pottery
established
itself
after
the
decay
of Greek art.
Apart from prehistoric products,
it can
be pro-
ved that
Greek
vase-painting
begins
historically in the
7th
century
B.
C;
attained
its golden
age
about
400
B.
C;
and
decayed
with
the
invasion
by the
Romans
about 200
B.
C.
According
to
peculia-
rities of form
and
finish,
we
distinguish
different
periods,
the
leading
characteristics
of
which are
as
follows:
—
1.
The
geometrical
style:
clay natural colour,
yeUowish-grey,
rough;
decoration
brown,
in bands,
rings,
zigzag
lines,
checks
and
other
simple
patterns, borrowed from the technique
of
weaving
and
wood
carving,
sometimes in
connection with
represen-
tations
of
domestic animals, teams,
&c.,
in
rhythmic
sequence,
(compare
Plate
194. 2
and
3).
2. The
Asiatic
style: clay natural color, yellowish, impregnated
and
smoothed;
decoration
dark brovra,
dark
red,
and
white,
300
Vase.
—
Fundamental Vase-Forms.
with
fantastic winged creatures, lions,
panthers,
geese,
sphinxes,
mostly arranged in zones.
The
intervening
spaces,
between the
animals,
are
filled
with rosettes,
flowers,
&c.
The
Zonal
deco-
ration is often replaced by Scales, (compare
Plate
194.
4).
8.
Tlie Black Figure style:
clay reddish-yellow,
coloured
with
oxide
of
iron;
decoration black, pure
white being
used for the
carnations
of
female figures, horses,
&c.
The
conception of
the figures
is
frequently archaic, drawn
in
uncoloured
com-
partments bordered
by
ornamental
bands. The
lines of
drapery,
&c.
are
scratched through
the black
colour, to
the clay.
4. Tlie Red Figure style:
clay red, very smooth:
the entire
vessel,
with the
exception
of the ornaments and figures,
coated
black;
the black sometimes having a greenish shimmer.
White only
occasionally found, for grey hair and the like. The
tendency
to
simplification is predominant in respect of both
ornament
and figures; usually
with
only one
figure
or with
simple
groups of figures; outlines are painted- in with the
pencil.
5.
Tlie Painted
style: clay as
in
No.
4;
the vessels frequently
of colossal
size (they are
then not
intended
for
practical use,
as
may
be
inferred from their having
no
bottom);
the nume-
rous red
figures on the black ground are placed
one over the
other,
with the
addition
of architectural decoration:
technically
the
decoration is
executed
in a careless manner;
dark red,
white,
yellow,
and gold are also
used; luxuriant brushwork
ornament,
patterns in
perspective,
and
painted reliefs, are
common.
The succession of these
styles, in time, is
generally
that of the
above order; but
they often
blend with each other without
any de-
finite demarcation,
forming composite styles and varieties. We
find,
for instance,
certain drug-pots which have polychrome painting
on a
white
background,
and
so
on.
Fundamental Vase-Forms. (Plate
181.)
Vases,
as
a rule, are
composed of
a
number of simple
forms
or
parts.
These
are
usually the foot, the body,
and
the neck; to which
a
handle,
a
lid,
and a spout, may also be
added. The most impor-
tant
part
is
the Body. In
the majority of cases
it
determines the
fundamental
form
of
the
vessel
The natural models for
vessels
are
the hollow
hand, the
egg, the
husks of
fruits
(gourds, nuts),
the
horns of
animals, the skins of
animals, and gimilar
objects.
These
have, as
a
matter
of
fact, been used in
all
ages
as
models, for
more