ng reason why the figures should not
submit to the conventionalizing tendencies of the art.

I have already shown that embroidered designs, although not from
necessity confined to geometric outlines, tend to take a purely
geometric character from the fabric upon which they are executed, as
well as from the mechanical processes of stitching. This is well shown
in Fig. 348, a fine specimen given by Wiener in his work Perou et
Bolive.

[Illustration: FIG. 348. Embroidery upon a cotton net in which the
textile combinations are followed step by step. Ancient Peruvian
work.]

A life form worked upon a net does not differ essentially from the
same subject woven in with the web and woof. The reason is found in
the fact that in embroidery the workman was accustomed from the first
to follow the geometric combination of the foundation fabric step by
step, and later in life delination he pursued the same method.

It would seem natural, however, that when the foundation fabric does
not exhibit well marked geometric characters, as in compactly woven
canvas, the needlework would assume free hand characters and follow
the curves and irregularities of the natural object depicted; but such
is not the case in purely aboriginal work. An example of embroidery
obtained from an ancient grave at Ancon, Peru, is shown in Fig. 349. A
piece of brown cotton canvas is embellished with a border of bird
figures in bright colored wool thread. The lines of the figures do not
obey the web and woof strictly, as the lines are difficult to follow,
but the geometric character is as perfectly preserved as if the design
were woven in the goods.

[Illustration: FIG. 349. Embroidery in which the foundation fabric is
not followed accurately, but which exhibits the full textile
geometricity. Ancient Peruvian work.]

[Illustration: FIG. 350. Design painted in color upon a woven surface,
exhibiting the full degree of geometric convention. Ancient Peruvian
work. Copied from The Necropolis of Ancon.]

So habit and association carry the geometric system into adventitious
decoration. When the ancient Peruvian executed a design in color upon
a woven surface (Fig. 350), using a pencil or brush, the result was
hardly less subject to textile restraint.

As a matter of course, since there are two distinct styles of
decorative design--the textile and the free hand--there exist
intermediate forms partaking of the character of both; but it is
nevertheless clear that