SPURIOUS MEXICAN ANTIQUITIES. 



333 



cba3ologists to ideutify mauy of the most aangeroiis classes of objects, 

 and luy declarations are, I hope, suflicieiitly strong to put all collectors 

 upou their guard. 



Fig. If?.— Large image iu black clay. 



And now let me recapitulate briefly some of the arguments brought 

 against the genuineness of the great body of the wares described as an- 

 tiquities and as products of legitimate art. As a class they are ]u)st- 

 Spauish and comparatively recent. That they are extensively made to- 

 day is easily proved. A critical examination of the internal evidence of 

 many specimens reputed to be antique demonstrates their newness be- 

 yond a doubt. A few pieces only can st^and the ordeal of a thorough 

 examination. In regard to these there is an absence of sufficient posi- 

 tive information to condemn them as frauds, but an inquiry into the 

 nature of the negative evidence is instructive. In the first place, no 

 single iiiece has a pedigree, no one has a well authenticated locality or 

 is known to have been found, so far as I can learn, in a position to lead 

 us to suspect it of an,y considerable antiquity. Again, no ware of its 

 class, whole or in fragments, is, to my knowledge, found upon iwy an- 

 cient site in Mexico or elsewhere. It has theiefore absolutely no place 

 among antiquities, and has but slight affinities with any known class 

 of antiquities. It is not Zapotec pottery, as the laud of the Zapotecs 



