Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-09-20
The First Potters.
fLOnQman's MaSazinp-

ornamentation, when it does begin
to appear, arises at first in a strictly
practical and unintcntional manner.
Later examples elsewhere show us by
analogy how it first came into exist
ence. The Indians of the Ohio seem
to have modelled their pottery in bags
or MEETINGS made of coarse thread or
twisted bark. Those of the Mis-
sissippi moulded them in baskets
Of willow or splints. When the
moist clay thus shaped and marked
by the indcntations Of the mould was
baked in the kiln it Of course retained
the pretty dappling it received from the
interlaced and woven thrums, which
were burned off in the process Of firing.
Thus rude sort Of natural diaper
ornament was set up, to which
the eye soon became accustomed, and
which it learned to regard as neces-
sary for beauty. Hence, whenever
newer and more improved methods
Of modelling came into use, there
would arise an instructive tendency on
the part Of the early potter to initiate
the familiar marking by artificial means.
DR.. klemm long ago pointed out that
the Oldest German fictile vases have an
ornamentation in which plating is imi-
tated by incised lines. what was no
longer wanted as necessity" he says,
was kept up as an ornament
alone" Another very simple form
of ornamentation, reappearing every
where all the world over on print
tive bowls and vases, is the rope pat
tern, line or string course over the
whole surface or near the mouth of the
vessel. Many of the indented patterns
on early British pottery have been pro-
duced, as DR.. Daniel Wilson has pointed
out, by the close impress of twisted
cord on the wet clay. Sometimes
these cords seem to have been originally
left on the clay in the process of
baking, and used as a mould; at other
times they may have been employed as
handles, as is still done in the case of
some South African pots, and when the
rope handle wore off the pattern msde
by its indentation on the plastic mate
rial before sun-baking would still re-
main as pure ornament. Probably the
very common idea Of string-course orns-
nentation just below the mouth or top
Of vases and bowls has its origin in
this early and almost universal
practice. When other conscious and
intentional ornamcntation began to
supersede these rude natural and
undersigned patterns, they were at
first mere rough attempts on the
part Of the early pottert to initiate. with
the simple means at his disposal, the
characteristic marks of the ropes or
by which the older YES
sells were necessarily surrounded He
had gradually learned, as Mr.. Tylor
well puts it, that clay alone or with
some mixture Of sand is capable Of be-
ing used without any extraneous support
for the manufacture of drinking and
cooking vessels. lie therefore began to
model rudely thin globular bowls with
his own hands, dispensing with the aid
Of thongs or basket-work. But he still
naturally continued to initiate the origi-
nal shapes-the gourd, the calabash.
the plated net, the round basket; and
bis eye required the familiar decoration
which naturally resulted from the use
Of some one or other among these
primitive methods. So he tried his
hand at deliberate ornament in his own
simple, untutored fashion.