202 



A STUDY OF CHIRIQUIAN ANTIQUITIES. 



Museum records it came from a Chiriquian tomb, having been collected in 1859 

 by Mr. D. M. Corwing, while on a trip to Panama. It was afterwards given to the 

 Museum by Mr. Meredith Howland. 



Representations of Cervidae are also rare. A specimen belonging to the Heye 

 collection is shown in figure 342. The neck and body are hollow, the latter being 



Fig. 341. Gold figurine of a fish. Metropolitan Museum, 

 New York. '/ 



Fig. 342. Figurine of a deer, in base metal 

 plated with low-grade gold. Heyc col- 

 lection. '/' 



Fig- 343- 



open ventrally. It is of base metal coated with a thin layer of low-grade gold, 

 which has disappeared from parts of the legs on account of the disintegration of 

 the baser foundation. The only gold figurine of the armadillo that I have seen 

 is the small one also belonging to Mr. Heye (fig. 343). 



The frog was a favorite with both 

 potter and goldsmith of ancient Chiriqui. 

 Those fashioned out of metal were almost 

 universally identical in type, especially in 

 regard to the flattening of the hindfeet, 

 as seen in figure 344. The suggestion 

 may have come originally from the web- 

 foot of the frog, but other reasons must 

 be sought to explain why it should be 

 characteristic of the metal frog only. 

 Gold is precious and of an attractive 

 color. The attractiveness and apparent 

 size of the figure can be almost doubled 

 by the flattening of the hindfeet. As 

 there are always rings for suspension, 

 usually in the forefeet or between them, 

 these objects were evidently worn as 

 charms or ornaments. The flattening of 

 the hindfeet would help to steady the 

 figurine and keep it from rolling as the 

 wearer moved. The clay frogs, on the 

 other hand, being merely ornamental and symbolic features on vases and being 

 made of a common and non-precious material, there was no occasion to flatten 



a b 



Fig. 344- 



Fig. 343. Small gold figurine of the armadillo. Heye 



collection. '/' 

 Fig. 344. Gold figurine of a frog; a. dorsal view, 



6. profile view. ''' 



