The painted decoration is of unusual interest. The colors are so rich, the execution is so superior, and the conception so strange that we dwell upon it with surprise and wonder. The central portion of the bowl is occupied by what would seem to represent a fish painted in strong, firm, marvelously turned lines, and in a style of convention wholly unique. The outlines are in black and the spaces are filled in with red and purple or are left in the orange hue of the ground. An idea of the superior style of execution can be gained from Fig. 212. It will be impossible to characterize the details of the drawing in words. The strange position and shape of the head, the oddly placed eyes and mouth, and the totally incomprehensible treatment of the body can be appreciated, however, by referring to the illustration. A careful study leads inevitably to the conclusion that this was no ordinary decoration, no playing with lines, but a serious working out of a conception every part of which had its significance or its raison d’être. [Illustration: Fig. 211. Vase of unusual shape, with decoration in black, red, and purple--⅓.] [Illustration: Fig. 212. Ornament occupying the interior surface of the basin of vase shown in Fig. 211.] The figures occupying the border zone of the bowl are worthy of careful inspection. It will be seen that the potter, even in this highly specialized condition of the utensil, has not lost sight of the conception that the vessel is the body of an animal, as we have seen so often in simpler forms, and that the symbols of the creature should appear upon it and encircle it. The zone is divided into two equal sections by small knobs, painted, as are the handle-like appendages in the preceding specimen, to represent some animal feature. The lateral sections are occupied by eye-like figures that stand for the markings of the body of the creature symbolized. They really occupy the spaces left by a continuous waved body or life line, which they serve to define. Devices of this class are most frequently met with in connection with representations of the alligator. They may, however, symbolize the serpent, as occasionally seen in the alligator group. Decorative conceptions so remarkable as these could arise only through one channel: the channel of mythology. The superstitions of men have imposed upon the art a series of conceptions fixed in character and limited to especial positions, relations, and forms of expression. It is useless to speculate upon the nature of the mythologic conceptions with an idea of arriving at any understanding of the religion of the people; but we do learn something of the stage of development, something of the condition of philosophy. [Illustration: Fig. 213. Large vase of fine shape and simple decorations. From De Zeltner--about ¼.]