m a circular basket 238
345. Figure of a bird from a Zuni shield 239
346. Figure of a bird woven in a tray 240
347. Figure of a bird woven in a basket 241
348. Figures embroidered on a cotton net by the ancient
Peruvians 242
349. Figures of birds embroidered by the ancient Peruvians 243
350. Conventional design painted upon cotton cloth 243
351. Herring bone and checker patterns produced in weaving 246
352. Herring bone and checker patterns engraved in clay 246
353. Earthen vase with textile ornament 247
354. Example of textile ornament painted upon pottery 248
355. Textile pattern transferred to pottery through costume 248
356. Ceremonial adz with carved ornament of textile character 250
357. Figures upon a tapa stamp 251
358. Design in stucco exhibiting textile characters 251

TEXTILE ART IN ITS RELATION TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF FORM AND ORNAMENT.

BY WILLIAM H. HOLMES.

INTRODUCTION.

The textile art is one of the most ancient known, dating back to the
very inception of culture. In primitive times it occupied a wide
field, embracing the stems of numerous branches of industry now
expressed in other materials or relegated to distinct systems of
construction. Accompanying the gradual narrowing of its sphere there
was a steady development with the general increase of intelligence and
skill so that with the cultured nations of to-day it takes an
important, though unobtrusive, place in the hierarchy of the arts.

Woven fabrics include all those products of art in which the elements
or parts employed in construction are largely filamental and are
combined by methods conditioned chiefly by their flexibility. The
processes employed are known by such terms as interlacing, plaiting,
netting, weaving, sewing, and embroidering.

The materials used at first are chiefly filiform vegetal growths, such
as twigs, leaves, roots, and grasses, but later on filiform and then
fibrous elements from all the kingdoms of nature, as well as numerous
artificial preparations, are freely used. These are employed in the
single, doubled, doubled and twisted, and plaited conditions, and are
combined by the hands alone, by the ha