Ancient art of the province of Chiriqui, Colombia Part 6

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 81. Large vase with high handles--?.]

A very small percentage of these vessels possess true handles, but these, in some of the examples, are worthy of high admiration. The specimen presented in Fig. 81 attracts attention at once on account of its resemblance to well known cla.s.sic forms. It is evident, from a study of this piece, that only a step more was necessary to place these potters alongside of the highest masters of the art. The sharp high elbow and the broadening of the handles at their junction with the lip are notable features. The latter is shown more satisfactorily in Fig. 82, which is a top view of a companion piece. I wish to call attention here to a peculiar feature of these handles and one repeated in vessels of other cla.s.ses. At the elbow of each handle we find a device in relief marked with herring bone indentations that would seem to represent a kind of textile attachment, as if, at some previous time and perhaps in an antecedent form of vessel, the upright and horizontal parts of the handles had been st.i.tched or tied together at this point.

Yet it is by no means certain that this feature is not the survival of some feature of an animal form into the semblance of which, as seen in other examples, this feature has a tendency to graduate.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 82. Top view of high handled vase--?.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 83.

Fig. 84.

Fig. 85.

Examples of handled vases--.]

These vessels are not numerous, but acquire importance from their large size, the larger being upwards of eight inches in height. A few pieces of nearly identical shape, but of small size, are found among the painted wares. Additional shapes are given in Figs. 83, 84, and 85, and serve to ill.u.s.trate the extent of variation exhibited in this group of vases. The small shallow piece is exceptionally fine and the handles are furnished with animal features of a highly conventional type. An expansion of the handles somewhat similar to this is frequently seen in vessels of other cla.s.ses, especially in those of the handled group.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 86.

Fig. 87.

Small cup with single handle ornamented with grotesque figure--.]

Single handles of like character occur in a number of cases upon minute cups, an example of which is given in Fig. 86. It would seem that possibly in such cases the rim had been expanded and prolonged for the purpose of giving support to the animal figures with which the shoulders were embellished. The expansion is probably the outgrowth of the use of animal figures in connection with simple handles.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 88. Vase of eccentric form--.]

We have a number of vessels of this group the bodies of which imitate animal forms, but they are in nearly all cases furnished with legs.

Rarely we meet with compound or eccentric forms. An interesting specimen of the latter cla.s.s is seen in Fig. 88. Such shapes are common in Peru and are occasionally met with in Central America. The two strong handles are decorated with minute images of birds and the bottom is concave, an exceptional character in Chiriquian work.

The ill.u.s.tration of this group of vessels would not be complete without a series of tripod vases. In shape of body these vases differ but little from the legless forms already given, excepting where the use of life forms has led to eccentric modifications. Very great interest attaches to the modeling of the tripod supports, upon which the potters have expended much time and ingenuity.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 89.

Fig. 90.

Vessels ill.u.s.trating forms of legs--.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 91. Vessel with large legs ornamented with stellar punctures--.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 92. Vases of varied form with plain and with animal shaped legs--?.]

The ill.u.s.trations given herewith are chosen from a great number of examples and are intended to convey an idea of the range of forms, both of the vessels and of their supports. Figs. 89 and 90 show plain forms of legs, all of which are hollow and contain small pellets of clay. The openings are generally wide vertical slits, and are placed in front, as seen in Fig. 89, or in the side, as in Fig. 90; but in exceptional cases they take other shapes and are scattered over the surface, as seen in Fig. 91. The legs are often remarkable in form, being swollen to an enormous size above and terminating in small rounded points below. The bowls are symmetrically shaped and graceful in outline. In Fig. 92 I present a group ill.u.s.trating some of the more eccentric forms of bowls and a variety of their supports. A very superior piece and one of the largest of this style is shown in Fig. 93.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 93. Large vase of striking shape--.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 94. Cup with legs imitating animal forms--.]

It will be seen that in a number of cases the legs are modeled to represent animal forms. This feature is brought out more clearly in succeeding figures. The creatures represented are often grotesque, as seen in Figs. 94 and 95. The human form is rarely shown in a way to make it clearly distinguishable from the figures of monkeys and other animals. The armadillo is a favorite subject. An example of small dimensions is ill.u.s.trated in Fig. 96, in which this animal is given in characteristic style, and a more pretentious piece is shown in Fig. 97.

The characteristics of the creature are very simply but graphically expressed. In the first the hard ribbed and figured case is represented by applied fillets and nodes, and in the other by incised lines. The frog is also much used (Fig. 98). A rather remarkable conception is ill.u.s.trated in Fig. 99. Upon the front of each leg is a curious little animal-like figure, to the front of which are bound two minute infantile creatures. In the piece presented in Fig. 100, the legs are grotesque heads, inverted, with wide open mouths and glaring eyes. The work upon this vase is very superior.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 95. Cup with legs imitating a grotesque animal form--.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 96.

Fig. 97.

Cups with legs imitating the armadillo--.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 98. Cup with frog shaped legs--.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 99. Cup with legs imitating an animal and its young--.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 100. Cup supported by grotesque heads--.]

The remarkable specimen ill.u.s.trated in Fig. 101 is furnished with unique supports. Two rudely modeled, semihuman, grotesque figures are affixed to the under surface of the bowl, supporting it with their backs.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 101. Large cup supported by two grotesque figures--?.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 102. Cup with two animal heads attached to the sides--.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 103. Cup with two animal heads attached to the sides--.]

The legs of these figures are spread out horizontally, so that a firm support is obtained. The periphery of the body of this vessel is encircled by a number of nodes and noded projections, which represent the heads, tails, and spines of two crab-like animals. The heads, with arms attached, appear at the right and left, and the tails occur at the front and back just over the heads of the supporting figures. The use of the crab in this way is quite common. Fish, birds, and a variety of quadrupeds are similarly treated. Some very interesting examples of double headed animal vases are found. Two of these are outlined in Figs.

102 and 103, the first having a single orifice and the second a pair of orifices. In many cases the bowl of the vessel is considerably modified, to give a more decided resemblance to the body of the creature. This is well shown in Figs. 104-106. The first is probably intended for a bird: the second resembles an armadillo; and the third portrays a creature with ears and three horns. The oblong vessel shown in Fig. 107 is modeled after a curious fish, to which the Chiriquians seem to have attached considerable importance. It is represented with a wide mouth displaying teeth, two spines or horns upon the end of the snout, and fins upon the back and sides. Fig. 108 gives the top view of another fish vase, which is supported, as are the others, by three legs. The body is flat and is encircled by well modeled fins. The head is rather flat and has the eyes and nose on the upper surface. I close this series of ill.u.s.trations with an outline of a fine vase (Fig. 109) the rim of which is decorated with a single head of extremely grotesque and repulsive character.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 104. Vase imitating an animal form--?.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 105. Vase imitating an animal form--?.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 106. Vase shaped to imitate an animal form--?.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 107. Fish shaped vessel--?.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 108. Top view of a fish shaped vessel--?.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 109. Cup with grotesque head attached to the rim--.]

_Black incised group._--This pottery, although closely related to the other varieties in its leading features, presents differences of a p.r.o.nounced character. The number of specimens recovered is rather small.

The largest piece has a capacity of perhaps a quart. Some of the forms are identical with those of other groups, but a few are peculiar to this ware. The color is black, brown, or dark gray, and in most cases the entire ma.s.s is quite dark. The decoration is executed in two somewhat distinct styles: in one the lines were scratched or engraved subsequently to the hardening of the clay; in the other they were deeply engraved with a sharp point while the clay was still moist. The lines are usually very deep and are filled with a white substance which renders the pattern distinctly visible upon the surface. It seems probable that the lines were engraved deeply with the intention of producing this effect. Type specimens are shown in Figs. 110 and 111.

They are small globular bottles, with short necks and wide apertures and with handles placed at opposite sides of the lip, which is prolonged to meet them. The design covers a large part of the body and is separated into two parts by the handles and the undecorated panels that descend from them. The figures appear to be very highly conventionalized animal forms, probably serpents. The coiled ends of the ribbon-like dotted bands are evidently meant to suggest the heads of reptiles. The figures a.s.sume a variety of shapes and grade by degrees from the recognizable life forms into purely geometric patterns. Examples of the latter style are given in Figs. 112 and 113. The motives employed, although so conventionally treated, are pretty certainly identical in origin with the preceding.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 110.

Fig. 111.

Black cups with incised reptilian figures--.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 112. Black vase with conventional incised pattern--.]

There are a number of tripods in this group, some of which have the deeply incised ornaments and others the shallow ones. The shapes vary greatly, a few examples being decidedly Costa Rican in type. Pieces with round bodies have conical legs, like much of the Chiriquian ware, but those with shallow basins and angular, incurved, upright, or flaring rims have the Costa Rican tripod. Figs. 114 and 115 may serve to ill.u.s.trate this variety. The first is a cup, with upright sides and thick rim, having an incised geometric pattern. The second is much more striking in appearance. The surface color is brownish gray in hue and the simple geometric design was scratched through into the lighter color beneath after the clay hardened. The legs represent the heads of animals conventionally treated and are hollow, containing movable pellets. This specimen is from lat.i.tude 8 42' north, longitude 82 52' west. Others of this cla.s.s come from different parts of the province.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 113. Small cup with conventional incised patterns--.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 114. Small tripod cup with upright walls and legs imitating animal heads--.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 115. Vase with flaring rim and legs, imitating animal heads--.]

To this cla.s.s belongs also a small dark vase of peculiar shape and interesting decoration, which is ill.u.s.trated in Fig. 116. The neck is large and the lip widely flaring, and the body is modeled in imitation of the head of some animal, possibly a peccary. The side representing the face is prolonged, giving an unsymmetric profile, as seen in the second figure. The eyes are set midway between the ears (which are placed at the sides) and the nostrils, and are inclosed by curious engraved figures, probably suggested by the markings of the animal portrayed. An arched ridge, representing the brows, connects the bridge of the nose with the ears. The most novel feature of this piece is the band of incised ornament that crosses the back of the head and serves probably to carry out the idea of the complete creature. As will be seen by reference to the figure, it is a guilloche-like interlacing of fillets, bordered and apparently held in place by longitudinal bands, beyond which the angles of the ornament project. The pattern is a modified form of one commonly seen upon the margins of the larger stone metates, and, although rarely met with in the pottery of Chiriqui, was a favorite motive with the potters of Costa Rica. This vessel comes from 30 miles north-northwest of David.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 116. Vase modeled to resemble the head of an animal--.]