antities of his pattern, but to distinguish and unite
them: so he makes use of the subsidiary borders as additional
quantities. A usual arrangement which always looks well is to have the
border proper inclosed in two bands of about the same width and quantity
in pattern--or they might be a repeat of each other--and to inclose the
field or centre within another narrow subsidiary border. But the
variations to be observed in any chance selection of Persian rugs or
carpets are constant, and the amount of subtle variety and invention in
these subsidiary borders is endless.

Very excellent examples of the treatment and distribution of quantities
may also be studied in the older Indian printed cottons, such as maybe
seen at South Kensington.

[Contrast]

The consideration of quantities in form and design involves the question
of _contrast_, which, indeed, can hardly be separated from it. There is
the contrast of form and line, and the contrast of colour and plane. It
is with the first kind we are dealing now.

Take the simplest linear border, such as the type common in Greek work.
We should easily weary of the continual repetition of such a form alone
and unassisted, but add a vertical with an alternative dark filling, and
we get a certain richness and solidity which is a relief at once. Add
another quantity, and we get the rich effect of the egg and tongue or
egg and dart moulding.

A still simpler instance of the use of contrast, however, is the
chequer, or the principle of equal alternation of dark and light masses;
but this touches colour contrast rather than form.

[Illustration (f062): Recurrence and Contrast in Border Motives.]

The love of contrast makes the Chinese porcelain-painter break the blue
borders of his plates with small cartouche-like forms inclosing the
light ground, varied with a spray or device of some light kind; or the
diagonal, closely-filled field of his woven silk by broad discs or
cartouches of another plane of ornament. But the love of sharp or very
violent contrasts, more especially of form, may easily lead one astray
and be destructive of ornamental effect. Like all decorative
considerations, the artistic use of contrast depends much upon the
particular case and the conditions of the work, and one cannot lay down
any unvarying rules. There are agreeable and disagreeable contrasts, and
their choice and use must depend upon the