Ancient art of the province of Chiriqui, Colombia: Sixth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1884-1885, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1888, pages 3-188Holmes, William Henry
History
Ancient art of the province of Chiriqui, Colombia: Sixth Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1884-1885, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1888, pages 3-188
Holmes, William Henry
Chiriquí (Panama : Province) -- Antiquities; Indian pottery -- Panama; Indians of Central America -- Panama
All points considered, I am inclined to believe that the objects were
cast, and cast in their entirety. It is plain, however, that the
original model was made up of separately constructed parts of wire or
wirelike strands and of eccentric and often rather massive parts, and
that all were set together by the assistance of pressure, the
indications being that the material used was sufficiently plastic to be
worked after the manner of clay, dough, or wax. In one case, for
example, the body of a serpent, consisting of two wires neatly twisted
together, is held in the hand of a grotesque figure. The hand consists
of four fingers made by doubling together two short pieces of wire. The
coil has been laid across the hand and pressed down into it until half
buried, and the ends of the fingers are drawn up around it without any
indication of hammer strokes. Indeed, the effect is just such as would
have been produced if the artist had worked in wax. Again, in the
modeling of the eyes we have a good illustration. The eye is a minute
ball cleft across the entire diameter by a sharp implement, thus giving
the effect of the parted lids. Now, if the material had been gold or
copper, as in the specimens, the ball would have been separated into two
parts or hemispheres, which would not exhibit any great distortion; but
as we see them here the parts are flattened and much drawn out by the
pressure of the cutting edge, just as if the material had been decidedly
plastic.
It seems to me that the processes of manufacture must have been
analogous to those employed by the more primitive metal workers of our
own day. In Oriental countries delicate objects of bronze and other
metals are made as follows: A model is constructed in some such material
as wax or resin and over it are placed coatings of clay or other
substance capable of standing great heat. These coatings, when
sufficiently thickened and properly dried, form the mold, from which the
original model is extracted by means of heat. The fused metal is
afterwards poured in. As a matter of course, both the mold and the model
are destroyed in each case, and exact duplications are not to be
expected. Mr. George F. Kunz, of New York, with whom I have discussed
this matter, states that he has seen live objects, such as insects, used
as models in this way. Being coated with washes of clay or like
substance until well protected and then heavily covered, they were
placed in the furnace. The animal matter was thus reduced to ashes and
extracted through small openings made for the purpose.
As bearing upon this subject it should be mentioned that occasionally
small figures in a fine reddish resin are obtained from the graves of
Chiriqui. They are identical in style of modeling with the objects of
gold and copper obtained from the same source.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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