Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 6.djvu/285

Rh of art, or of the work of a bungler. When the lines are not drawn to the centre, they may be joined as in B, and this form of fret was much cultivated in America; but it is objectionable, apparently on account of the obliquity of the units, and it is vastly inferior to the fret, Fig. 7, A, where lines, drawn past the middle, are united in a similar way. This last is the true Greek fret, though it occurs also in

American aboriginal art. The units may be made more or less involved, as in Fig. 7, but the simple forms are the more pleasing.

I have observed that in Brazil, and elsewhere in America, the artist has often taken care to separate the units in this fret from one another, either by drawing lines between them, as in Fig. 8, A, or by placing them in cartouches, B. The addition of the line in A enhances the beauty of the series by breaking up the monotony and introducing a pleasing alternation. The attempt to separate the units resulted, however, in bringing about their firm union; for it was observed



that, by obliterating the dotted spaces in Fig. 9, the whole series could be drawn without lifting the hand, and thus arose the current fret, Fig. 10. Examples of the modification of ornaments by obliteration of parts, in this way, are common, not only in aboriginal, but also in classic and modern civilized art. The bounding lines, Fig. 10, were afterward added, and greatly heighten the beauty of



the border. The current fret is not only agreeable to run the eye over, but it is pleasant to trace with the hand. Current frets may of course be more or less involved.

Unless care is taken in drawing a current fret, one is apt to round down the angles, and, in running the eye over this ornament, there is a tendency not to follow lines down to the angles, but to swerve from one line to another, avoiding the corners—the muscular movements