of function, but at the same time it is further than in other shaping
arts from expressing the whole of function. Such is the pliability of
a large portion of textile products--as, for example, nets, garments,
and hangings--that the shapes assumed are variable, and, therefore,
when not distended or for some purpose folded or draped, the articles
are without esthetic value or interest. The more rigid objects, in
common with the individuals of other useful arts, while their shape
still accords with their functional office, exhibit attributes of form
generally recognized as pleasing to the mind, which are expressed by
the terms grace, elegance, symmetry, and the like. Such attributes are
not separable from functional attributes, but originate and exist
conjointly with them.

In addition to these features of form we observe others of a more
decidedly superfunctional character, added manifestly for the purpose
of enhancing the appearance.

In very primitive times when a utensil is produced functional ideas
predominate, and there is, perhaps, so far as its artificial
characters are concerned, a minimum of comeliness. But as the ages
pass by essential features are refined and elements of beauty are
added and emphasized. In riper culture the growing pressure of
esthetic desire leads to the addition of many superficial
modifications whose chief office is to please the fancy. In periods of
deadened sensibility or even through the incompetence of individual
artists in any period, such features may be ill chosen and
erroneously applied, interfering with construction and use, and thus
violating well founded and generally accepted canons of taste. In
respect to primitive works we may distinguish four steps in the
acquisition of esthetic features of form, three of which are normal,