[Illustration: FIG. 353. Earthen vase built by coiling, exhibiting
decorative characters derived from basketry.]

[Illustration: FIG. 354. Ceramic ornament copied literally from a
textile original.]

Another peculiar class of transfers of a somewhat more indirect nature
may be noticed. All the more advanced American nations were very fond
of modeling the human form in clay, a large percentage of vessels
having some trace of the human form or physiognomy. Now, in many cases
the costume of the personage represented in the clay is also imitated,
and generally in color, the details of the fabrics receiving their
full share of attention. Such an example, from a sepulcher at Ancon,
is shown in Fig. 355. Here the poncho or mantle thrown across the
shoulders falls down upon the body in front and behind and the stripes
and conventional fishes are accurately reproduced. In this way both
style and matter of the textile decoration are introduced into the
ceramic art.

[Illustration: FIG. 355. Textile patterns transferred to pottery
through the copying of costume. From The Necropolis of Ancon, by Reiss
and Stübel, Pl. 94.]

It will be seen by these illustrations that there are many natural
methods, automatic or semiautomatic in character, by which the one art
receives aid from the other; that in the beginning of the transfer of
textile ornament to fictile forms the process is purely mechanical,
and that it is continued automatically without any very decided
exercise of judgment or taste. As a result, these borrowed decorations
are generally quite as consistent and appropriate as if developed