A Survey of Ancient Peruvian Art. 373 



is the same square-edged variety that is to be noted in the bas- 

 rehefs on the monohthic gateway. This similarity may or may 

 not be significant. In the case of Figure 5 modelHng in the 

 round also plays an important part, and the human head with 

 its large fan-shaped headdress recalls some of the figures of 

 Proto-Chimu art. A further development of this headdress is 

 seen on some of the specimens in the American Museum of 

 Natural History. The development takes the form of the addi- 

 tion of great plume-like ornaments that rise in a curve from the 

 headdress and fall down on both sides of the wearer's face. In 

 decorations with this motif there is to be observed a very marked 

 residue of the old Tiahuanaco II tendency toward bilateral 

 symmetry, and also a number of other criteria typical of that 

 period. For example, one vessel in the New York collection 

 shows a personage with a perfectly symmetrical plumed helmet 

 who is holding two staves or weapons in his symmetrically 

 arranged four-digit hands. Indeed, four-digit hands are by 

 no means uncommon in this period. It was a tendency inherited 

 from the previous periods. A great many vessels however, 

 like Figure 4, show no such symmetry and lack entirely any 

 seeming resemblance to Tiahuanaco II art. Indeed, the anthro- 

 pomorphic figure on that flask seems to be in the clutches of a 

 creature more closely resembling the dragon-like animal we 

 noticed in connection with the red-white-black ware than any- 

 thing else. Again, there is a large class of black ware vessels 

 like Figures 3 and 6 totally devoid of either anthropomorphic or 

 zoomorphic decoration. 



If skill in modelling is one of the strong points of Proto- 

 Chimu art, it is so of Chimu art as well. Evidence of this is 

 given by the large class of "portraits" in both black ware 

 and in red ware. Above all, the modelled vessels representing 

 peanuts, potatoes, guanacatcs, squash, paltas, and other vegeta- 

 bles and fruits are especially eloquent of the high artistic capa- 

 bilities of the potters in the Chimu period. These vessels are 

 adorned with modelled forms which, except in the matter of 

 color, are absolutely true to nature. 



All this does not mean to imply that the Chimu people used 

 solely this black clay for their vessels. The black is emphasized 

 merely because it is the most predominant and characteristic. 

 Red clay painted in white slip was used, but it lacked the excel- 



