Page 35

GREEK ORNAMENT.
the double fret, No. 11, with the second line interlacing with the first;
all the others are formed by
placing these frets one under the other, running in different directions,
as at No. 17; back to back,
as at Nos. 18 and 19; or enclosing squares, as at No. 20. All the other kinds
are imperfect frets,-
that is, not forming a continuous meander.  The raking fret, No. 2, is the
parent of all the other
forms of interlacing ornament in styles which succeeded the Greek.  From
this was first derived the
Arabian fret, which in its turn gave birth to that infinite variety of interlaced
ornaments formed by
the intersection of equidistant diagonal lines, which the Moors carried to
such perfection in the
Alhambra.
O                   rEZL&L             ____
Greek.                               Arabian.
Arabihn.                      Moresque.                        Celtic.
The knotted work of the Celts differs from the Moresque interlaced patterns
only in adding
curved terminations to the diagonal intersecting lines.  The leading idea
once obtained, it gave birth to an immense variety of new forms.
The knotted-rope ornament of the Greeks may also have had some
influence in the formation both of these and the Arabian and Moresque
interlaced ornaments.
Greek.
The Chinese frets are less perfect than any of these.    They are
formed, like the Greek, by the intersection of perpendicular with horizontal
lines, but they have
not the same regularity, and the meander is more often elongated in the horizontal
direction.
Chinese.                      Chinese.                           Chinese.
They are also most frequently used fragrnentally,-that is, there is a repetition
of one fret after
the other, or one below the other, without forming a continuous meander.
The Mexican ornaments and frets, of which we here give some illustrations
from Mexican pottery
III tUe britsu Museum, nave a remarkable attlmtv with the (-reek fret: and
in Mr. Catherwood's illustra-
tions of the architecture of
Yucatan we have several va- |
rieties of the Greek fret: one
especially is thoroughly Greek.                From Yucatan.
But they are, in general, fragmentary, like the Chinese: there is also to
be
found at Yucatan a fret with a diagonal line, which is npecliar.
rrom Yucatan.         The ornaments on Plate XVI. have been selected to show
the various forms
of conventional leafage to be found on the Greek vases.  Tlhey are all very
far removed from any natural
35
l