[Illustration: _a_, Net. _b_, Clay. FIG. 472.--Form originating in basketry.] Basketry and other classes of woven vessels take a great variety of forms and, being generally antecedent to the potter's art and constantly present with it, have left an indelible impression upon ceramic forms. This is traceable in the earthenware of nearly all nations. The clay vessel is an intruder, and usurps the place and appropriates the dress of its predecessor in wicker. The form illustrated in Fig. 470, _a_, is a common one with the Pueblo peoples, and their earthen vessels often resemble it very closely, as shown in _b_. Another variety is given in Fig. 471, _a_ and _b_. These specimens are from southwestern Utah. Fig. 472, _b_, illustrates a form quite common in the Southern States, a section in which pouch-like nets and baskets, _a_, were formerly in use and in which the pots were often modeled. +INVENTION OF FORM.+ In the early stages of art, forms are rarely invented outright and I shall not stop to consider the subject here. +MODIFICATION OF FORM.+ The acquisition of new materials, the development of new uses, the employment of new processes of manufacture, and many other agencies lead to the multiplication of forms through modification. The processes by which highly differentiated forms are reached are interesting throughout and repay the closest study. A preliminary classification of the various causes that lead to modification is given in the following synopsis: / / /To assume form. | |Incapacity of material--\To retain form. | |Incapacity of the artisan. | |Changes in method of manufacture. |By adventition--|Changes in environment. |Changes of use. Modification of form--| |Lack of use. | \Influence of new or exotic forms, etc. | | /To enhance usefulness. |By intention--| | \To please fancy.--/For the beautiful. \ \For the grotesque. +MODIFICATION BY ADVENTITION.+ _Incapacity of material._--It is evident at a glance that clay lacks the capacity to assume and to retain many of the details of form found in antecedent vessels. This necessarily results in the alteration or omission of these features, and hence arise many modifications of original forms. The simple lack of capacity on the part of the potter who undertook to reproduce a model would lead to the modification of all but the most simple shapes.