110 



A STUDY OF CHIRIQUIAN ANTIQUITIES. 



of vases (see PI. XLII). There are also in this group several small red bottles, 

 the ornaments on which consist of plain and scalloped horizontal bands. 



As a rule, in vessels of the lost color ware, the original ground consists of 

 two colors red and a light cream color that in rare cases is replaced by salmon. 

 The two ground colors are usually applied in zones, figure b (PI. XXVII) being 

 a good example, reproduced in color. The wide neck and bottom are red. The 

 middle zone is a rich cream color, which is now visible only as the pattern on 

 an ultimate field of black. Between the two bands about the neck and the two 

 peripheral bands (the lower one of which is in the red zone) is a row of ten 

 monkey-like figures, all facing the same way and in precisely the same attitude. 

 Each is a conventionalized view in absolute profile, of a monkey sitting bolt 



Fig. 181. Vase in red and black with narrow aperture, 

 showing life forms in low relief alternating with 

 two panel decorations. Lost color ware. '/> 



Fig. 182. Vase in red, light cream, and black, the 

 three panels of the shoulder zone being decorated 

 with alligator motives. Lost color ware, '/i 



upright, its long erect tail reaching as high as the head and recurved at the 

 tip. Both eyes are represented on the side toward the observer, but no attempt 

 is made to show more than two of the four feet. These are conspicuously large 

 and two-toed, the only exception being those of the tenth monkey, which is 

 restricted to a smaller space than the others. The feet here are not spread, 

 the body is more slender, and the eyes are placed in a vertical row instead of 

 horizontally. The whole effect is such as to reveal in a striking way the methods 

 employed in the lost color process. A tripod of this group is decorated with a 

 similar monkey design. It should be recalled that long-tailed monkeys abound 

 in the American tropics, the Capuchin monkeys (Cebus) being the most numerous. 

 Other genera represented are: Mycetes, Ateles and Nyctipithecus. 



The same disposition of the two ground colors is seen in figure 182, where 

 the three panels of the cream zone are filled with highly conventionalized life 

 motives attached to the banded framework of the design and sharply recurved at 

 the free end. The first figure in each row is attached to the band above, as is 

 the attachment of every alternate figure to the band below. Each is accompanied 



