ere functionally proper antecedents
had given rise to a familiarity with the use of clay and a capacity in
handling it that, with advancing culture, brought all nature within the
reach of the potter and made it assist in the processes of variation and
development.

_Artificial originals_.--There is no doubt that among most peoples art
had produced vessels in other materials antecedent to the utilization of
clay. These would be legitimate models for the potter and we may
therefore expect to find them repeated in earthenware. In this way the
art has acquired a multitude of new forms, some of which may be natural
forms at second hand, that is to say, with modifications imposed upon
them by the material in which they were first shaped. But all materials
other than clay are exceedingly intractable, and impress their own
characters so decidedly upon forms produced in them that ultimate
originals, where there are such, cannot often be traced through them.

It will be most interesting to note the influence of these peculiarities
of originals upon the ceramic art.

A nation having stone vessels, like those of California, on acquiring
the art of pottery would use the stone vessels as models, and such forms
as that given in Fig. 466 would arise, _a_ being in stone and _b_ in
clay, the former from California and the latter from Arizona.

Similar forms would just as readily come from gourds, baskets, or other
globular utensils.

Nations having wooden vessels would copy them in clay on acquiring the
art of pottery. This would give rise to a distinct group of forms, the
result primarily of the peculiarities of the woody structure. Thus in
Fig. 467, _a_, we have a form of wooden vessel, a sort of winged trough
that I have frequently found copied in clay. The earthen vessel given in
Fig. 467, _b_, was obtained from an ancient grave in Arkansas.

[Illustration: _a_, stone. _b_, clay. FIG. 466.--Form derived
from a stone pot.]

[Illustration: _a_, wood. _b_, clay. FIG. 467.--Form derived
from a wooden tray.]

[Illustration: _a_, Horn. _b_, Clay. FIG. 468.--Form derived
from a horn spoon.]

[Illustration: _a_, Bark. _b_, Clay. FIG. 469.--Form derived
from a bark vessel.]

The carapace of some species of turtles, and perhaps even the hard case
of the armadillo, could be utilized in a similar way. The shaping of a
knot of wood often gives rise to a dipper-shaped vessel, such as may be
found in use by many tribes, and is as likel