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 - 189-2 by William H. Holmes
page 27 of 70 (38%)
page 27 of 70 (38%)
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[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. [Illustration: FIG. 312. Basket with pendent buckskin strands tipped with bits of tin. Apache Indians--1/8.] Fig. 312 illustrates a large, well made basket, the work of the Apache Indians. It serves to indicate the method of employing tassels and clustered pendants, which in this case consist of buckskin strings tipped with conical bits of tin. The checker pattern is in color. [Illustration: FIG. 313. Basket with pendants of beads and bits of |
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