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
Complex and compound forms are comparatively rare. A double vessel is
shown in Fig. 186, and a second, varying somewhat from the first in
shape and ornamentation, is presented in the succeeding figure. Vessels
of this form are always small, but are neatly constructed and finished
with much care. The strong handles are more or less arched and connect
the inner margins of the two lips. The bodies of the twin cups are
closely joined, but the two compartments are not connected.
[Illustration: Fig. 187. Double vessel with arched handle--½.]
It seems impossible to present a satisfactory series of the plastic
features characteristic of this group of products without extending this
paper inordinately. Handles, legs, and life forms are varied and
interesting; they are not so boldly treated, however, as in some of the
other groups. This is a result perhaps of the unusual degree of polish
given to all parts of the surface preparatory to the application of
designs in color, the processes tending to subdue and simplify the
salient features.
[Illustration: Fig. 188. Vase embellished with life forms, heads in
relief and other parts in color--½.]
With reference to life forms it has already been pointed out that the
painted figures generally imitate or typify animal forms, and it is
important to note that these figures are in very many cases used as
auxiliaries to plastic features in the development of particular
conceptions. This is shown to advantage in Fig. 188, which illustrates a
small, well formed bottle, having two large human-like heads attached to
opposite sides of the body. There are no other plastic features, but the
heads are supplied with arms and legs, rudely expressed in black lines,
which are really the interspaces of the lines drawn in the lost color.
These painted parts occupy the zone usually devoted to decoration and,
as will be seen by reference to the cut, resemble closely the radiate or
meandered figures seen in vases of the class shown in Fig. 167. The arms
are joined to the lower part of the head and extend upward to the neck
of the vessel, where they terminate in rudely suggested fingers. Rising
to the right and left of the arms are legs terminating as do the arms.
A double row of dots is carried along each member, and thus we have a
suggestion of the relation of the dots and dotted lines, seen in more
highly conventional forms, to the markings of the creature represented
or symbolized. The grotesque faces are covered with lines which follow
the forms as if imitating markings upon the skin. Another example,
equally suggestive, also employing an animal form, is shown in Fig. 189.
It is a cup, mounted upon three feet, which has attached to one side the
head of a peccary, modeled with more than usual skill. The ears of the
animal appear at the sides of the vessel and the tail is opposite the
head. The lines and dots seen upon the head are carried along the sides
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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