AND SCOPE OF ORNAMENTAL OR DECORATIVE ART.

I. _Object of Ornamental Art._--The object or purpose of ornament, as in
the other fine arts, is to please. In music and poetry this enjoyment is
conveyed to the mind through the ear; in the decorative and pictorial arts,
through the eye. Generally, the meaning that we find in such productions,
the appeal that they make to the understanding or feelings, is as great a
source of interest to us as their intrinsic beauty. Poetry and vocal music
are greatly dependent for their effect upon the meaning they convey in
words; painting and sculpture, upon the ideas or sentiments they suggest.
In all four, however, and most decidedly in music unaccompanied by words,
the appeal is frequently made almost exclusively to the aesthetic sense, the
mind or intellect remaining almost dormant under the impression. Gems of
rhythmical verse, such as Poe's "Bells," "The Raven," Whistler's
"Symphonies in Color," nameless forms in statuary, expressionless save in
the mere beauty of their proportions and curves, and, as has been stated,
nearly the entire field of instrumental music, are cases in point. In the
ornamental and decorative arts, as well as in architecture (from which they
are indeed inseparable), beauty alone, in like manner, should be the
principal aim and purpose. In the former, of course, it is indispensable
that such should be the case, as they are entirely subordinate and
accessory in their nature, their only _raison d'etre_ being to beautify or
render more agreeable objects already created for some purpose.

It must not be imagined that such artistic impressions--viz., where the
appeal is made almost solely to the aesthetic sense, regardless of the
reason, judgment, or feelings--are necessarily of a lower order. Their
effect is almost analogous to that which nature herself produces upon
us--the starry heavens, the mighty ocean, the tender flower. The
impression, whether the object belongs to the domain of nature or art, may
be a merely sensuous one; and if it stops there, as it certainly does for
the majority of people, it ranks without doubt far below productions where
the aesthetic element is only used to stimulate and heighten the appeal to
the mind or the feelings. But if it extend beyond, and makes the sensuous
impression but the parting link to the contemplation of ideal, abstract
beauty, without the intermediate aid of the heart or the reason, it is the
shortest and quickest roa