Art, Prehistoric; Folk literature -- History and criticism
In fig. 280 _a_, the two sides shown on the left are occupied by a
large head on top, corresponding to the blanket fields 1, 2, and 5. The
ear (5) is much reduced in size. The sharp beak in the middle indicates
that the hawk is meant. Under it is seen a small field corresponding
to field 3 on the blankets and under it a face with its two eyes,
corresponding to 4. The field 7 is occupied by the arms, indicated by
the curved line running from the shoulder to the wrist of the raised
hand. The whole lateral field of the blanket is condensed in the
narrow strip to the right and left of the face and body. The designs
on the upper corners are clearly ornamental and do not represent
any particular part of the head; the eyes in the lower corners are
considered as feet and toes; the large eyes over the lower corners as
knee joints. The two sides of the box shown on the right hand side
correspond in all details to those on the left, excepting the mouth,
which is treated quite differently; the nostrils being shown in the
center.
[Illustration: Fig. 281. Carved box, Tlingit.]
In fig. 280 _b_ the lower portion of the decorated side is much reduced
in size and the marginal fields are simplified. The head may represent
a hawk; the eyes in the lower fields are exceptional in so far as
they are not placed in the corners but near the body and they may be
considered ankle joints and below them the toes. The eye designs in
the upper corners take the place of the ears. The reduction of the
body is even more marked in fig. 281; here the eye designs and the
adjoining curves on the upper margin are clearly fillers; the body
has been completely dissolved. The eyes in the lower corners with the
attached lower curve show an attempt to represent a flipper. The common
character of these three specimens is the horizontal dividing line
under the mouth and (excepting the one face in fig. 281) the general
tendency to the symmetrical arrangement of lines in the upper and lower
fields. The lines in the upper field point from the middle downward,
and those in the lower, from the middle upward.
[Illustration: Fig. 282. Carved trays.]
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