in architecture and ornament has always been influenced by tradition, racial influence, and the myths and religious beliefs of the people, and it developed with the progress of the nation, often culminating in some great epoch. Frequently the continuity was carried on by some contemporary or succeeding race, modified by different conditions and environments, yet still retaining the style in its general characteristics, or, this thread of continuity was occasionally lost for a time, only to spring into new life, endowed with fresh vitality and beauty, culminating again in splendour. Then fresh religious ideas and conditions engrafted their symbolism and traditions upon the style, thus forming a new period in the history of art.
Ornament is the expression of the people or of the priestcraft, and in its primitive state was used symbolically. The ornament of Polynesia and Melanesia probably shows this primitive state of ornamentation. Isolated as these islanders were from the influence of Eastern or Western art, and with but little communication among the various islands, the ornamental art of these people has its own traditions and characteristics, each province or group of islands showing different ideas and details in proportion to its culture or state of civilization, New Zealand showing the highest development and Australia the lowest, while with the Marquesans the ornament is almost pure picture writings. The illustration of the beautiful paddle in the Heape collection, with its geometric ornamentation, shows the continuity and ornamental development of the representation of the human figure, which was originally chosen by the priesthood for its significance or divinity.
In Europe and Asia all trace of this primitive stage has ceased to exist. The development and continuity of ideas and customs, the traditions of style and craftsmanship carried on through many centuries of the world’s history have obliterated the early or primitive style of ornament, chosen first for its significance or emblematic character.
Some remarkable examples of pottery and woven textile fabrics have been recently found in the ancient cemeteries of Peru—relics of the Incas—long anterior to the Spanish conquest. Many fine examples of these woven textiles of cotton and wool are now in the South Kensington museum, forming the Smithies collection, and, as in the ornament of Polynesia, floral forms are entirely absent, the ornament consisting of conventional representations of the human figure, with the owl, condor and the toucan, mingled with the wave scroll and the fret, elements doubtless chosen for their significance.
Many beautiful illustrations could be chosen from the history of ornament, showing this continuity and persistency of line and form and its remarkable influence upon contemporary and succeeding races.
Perhaps the form and enrichment of the Architectural Capital offer one of the most interesting and instructive fields of study in the history and evolution of architecture. The remarkable persistency of the capital as a distinctive feature in architecture may be traced through many centuries, though differentiated by climatic conditions and racial influences, yet still preserving a remarkable similarity of form and enrichment among the various nations of the earth.
The function of the capital is to sustain and transmit to the columns the weight of the entablature or archivolt, and the beauty and appropriateness of the capital depends:—
First, upon this functional treatment of strength;
Second, upon the beauty of profile or mass;
Third, upon the enrichment and proportion of the capital.