A Study of the Textile Art in Its Relation to the Development of Form and Ornament: Sixth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1884-'85, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1888, (pages 189-252)Holmes, William Henry
History
A Study of the Textile Art in Its Relation to the Development of Form and Ornament: Sixth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1884-'85, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1888, (pages 189-252)
Holmes, William Henry
Decoration and ornament; Indian textile fabrics -- North America; Textile fabrics; Textile industry
In Fig. 310 we have a second Peruvian example in which the woof
threads have been omitted for the space of an inch, and across this
interval the loose warp has been plaited and drawn together, producing
a lattice-like band.
[Illustration: FIG. 309. Simple form of ornamental reticulation.
Ancient Peruvian work.]
[Illustration: FIG. 310. Reticulated pattern in cotton cloth. Work of
the ancient Peruvians.]
In a similar way four other bands of narrow open work are introduced,
two above and two below the wide band. These are produced by leaving
the warp threads free for a short space and drawing alternate pairs
across each other and fixing them so by means of a woof thread, as
shown in the cut.
Examples of netting in which decorative features have been worked are
found among the textile products of many American tribes and occur as
well in several groups of ancient fabrics, but in most cases where
designs of importance or complexity are desired parts are introduced
to facilitate the work.
_Superconstructive features._--These features, so important in the
decoration of fabrics, are the result of devices by which a
construction already capable of fulfilling the duties imposed by
function has added to it parts intended to enhance beauty and which
may or may not be of advantage to the fabric. They constitute one of
the most widely used and effective resources of the textile
decorator, and are added by sewing or stitching, inserting, drawing,
cutting, applying, appending, &c. They add enormously to the capacity
for producing relievo effects and make it possible even to render
natural forms in the round. Notwithstanding this fact--the most
important section of this class of features--embroidery is treated to
better advantage under color phenomena, as color is very generally
associated with the designs.
[Illustration: FIG. 311. Open work design embroidered upon a net-like
fabric. From a grave at Ancon, Peru.]
One example of lace-like embroidery may be given in this place. It is
probably among the best examples of monochrome embroidery America has
produced. In design and in method of realization it is identical with
the rich, colored embroideries of the ancient Peruvians, being worked
upon a net foundation, as shown in Fig. 311. The broad band of figures
employs bird forms in connection with running geometric designs, and
still more highly conventional bird forms are seen in the narrow band.
Appended ornaments are not amenable to the geometric laws of
fabrication to the extent observed in other classes of ornament. They
are, however, attached in ways consistent with the textile system, and
are counted and spaced with great care, producing designs of a more or
less pronounced geometric character. The work is a kind of embroidery,
the parts employed being of the nature of pendants.
These include numberless articles derived from nature and art. It will
suffice to present a few examples already at hand.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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