H. Pendant. Gold. As worn by peasants in Etruria.
shell, so called because it resembles the ram’s horn of Jupiter Ammon. Its traditional employment in conjunction with the undulate stem, is certainly far from any natural suggestion in the way of growth, while the variety known as the evolute scroll is distinctly artificial.
Materialistic Influence
It is probable that it had its origin in the facility with which wire could be bent, and in early jewellery such scroll forms are conspicuous.
A reasonable conjecture is that the similar forms in early repoussé work, such as that of the gold ornaments found at Enkomi, Cyprus and the painted decoration of the Greek vases, were inspired by the treatment which was the outcome of the use of metal in the form of thin wire. Similar details occur in Peruvian and New Guinea work, which is certainly coincidental as it is difficult to imagine these people having any communication with the Old World.
Scandinavian and Keltic art was to a certain extent influenced by Eastern tradition through the medium of the Phœnician merchant adventurers; but no such conjecture is feasible in the Maori incised work and tattooing in which similar details occur.
The scrolling line alone may be used, generally in decoration of small scale, as in the Greek vases. In this form it frequently occurs in pottery, either incised or painted, and in filagree jewellery. Wrought iron partakes largely of the scrolling character, but this, as in filagree, is the direct result of the material employed.