IX.—The Fret or Key Ornamentation in Mexico and Peru

Extract

One of the commonest as well as most characteristic forms of ornamentation on the old pottery, spindle-whorls, and even buildings of ancient Mexico and Peru, dating as far back as, or anterior even to, the Spanish conquest of America, is one very nearly allied to, if not indeed identical with, the well-known meander, Greek fret or key-pattern.