A.

GEOMETRICAL ELEMENTS AND MOTIVES.

Geometrical Ornament is the primordial or oldest of the Elements
of Decoration. The implements of savages, and the tattooing of the
Indians, prove this. The seam, with the thread running slant-wise
from one piece to the other, may have been the original for the
Zigzag line; and woven-work, of warp and woof of every kind, the
original for Reticulated patterns; and the plaited hair that of the
Plaited band. The revolutions of a fork-like instrument led to the dis-
covery of the Circle; the combination of dots, at regular intervals, to
the Polygon or Pointed
-
star. The gradual developement of these
original geometrical forms, rising from stage to stage with the growth
of culture and knowledge, led finally to geometrical artistic forms
such as we see in Moorish panelled ceilings, in Gothic tracery, in
guilloche-work, and the like. The developement of geometry into a
science, with its theorems and proofs, also came to the assistance
of art. As evidence of this, we need only refer to the construction
of the ellipse from given lengths of axes.
The majority of all geometrical ornaments may be divided into
three groups. They are either continuous and ribbon-like (bands), or
in enclosed spaces (panels), or in unlimited flat patterns. In every
case the foundation of the geometrical ornament will be a certain
division, a subsidiary construction, or a network. We will begin
with the last; and pass in turn to the ribbon motives, the flat patterns,
and the flgure motives.
1*