textile-like designs for mosaic and stucco work, but these, the well-known case of Mitla in Mexico,[1] and the single example at Chanchan, Peru, are the striking exceptions to the rule that wherever architectural embellishment is undertaken, it tends toward realistic carving.
When we come to South America, we find that certain accidents have preserved us a good series of aboriginal textiles from Inca culture. In the technique of design these ancients were remarkably proficient, even to the extent of using complex color sequences.[2] On the whole, their designs tend to be realistic figures: men, cats, birds and fish being distinguishable in many degrees of conventionalization. In fact, we find here the best illustrations of the geometric biases in loom weaving. Associated with this art is an equally superior development of pottery decoration. One prominent feature of this pottery is the introduction of life forms, so that we have jars representing persons, birds, monkeys, fishes, etc., in which the modeling is of a high order. The decorations are in both color and incised work. In color, we have the great triumph of Nasca and Titicaca ware, so far superior to anything yet discovered in the New World. The painted designs upon this pottery are comparable to those upon cloth in that they have the same realistic tendencies. Certain fixed conventional forms appear both on pottery and cloth, suggesting the fundamental unity of design concepts for both ceramics and textiles.
As we go out from Peru in either direction, pottery decorations become inferior; consequently, we may be sure that the center of the art was in that country. The great problem for the future is to discover the historical relations of this center to the adjacent cultures. If we follow around the north coast and down into Brazil we find greater use of painted pottery decorations than in the corresponding parts of North America. No doubt one factor in this distribution is the presence of the very strong Peruvian art center. In a similar way this Peruvian influence can be seen in Chile and the adjacent parts of Argentina, presumably again connecting with eastern Brazil.
As to the textile designs in these outlying regions, we are so ignorant that little can be said, though the explorations of
