160 CONVENTIONALISM 



vessel, first in the form of a fish, gradually loses its piscine 

 shape, and either the dorsal and anal fins alone are left to 

 serve as handles, or the head and tail are reduced to sim- 

 ple knobs for that purpose. 



In the case of the frog, also largely used in Missouri 

 and Arkansas art, the realistic representations are com- 

 mon, but in the process of conventionalism the legs of 

 the fro become ridges on the sides of the vessel and serve 



O O 



as handles. It is an interesting fact that there are vessels 

 from Nicaragua which have the same conventional orna- 

 ments on their sides ; but as I have not seen any intermediate 

 forms between them and the realistic frog, which also oc- 

 curs in Nicaraguan work, I cannot assert positively that 

 this conventionalized form is here actually derived from 

 the frog, although it seems probable. 



In the bird, human and squash forms, particularly 

 prominent in the jars from the Missouri burial mounds, 

 the modifications are principally at the top of the vessel, 

 and all three forms are conventionalized to a simple type, 

 having the appearance of an intermediate form. From a 

 casual examination of the series of Missouri pottery in the 

 Museum, having these forms, it would be easy to conclude 

 that the jars in the shape of women were a development 

 from those of the squash form, were it not that the real- 

 istic work in every case preceded the conventional. 



THE HUMAN FACE ON POTTERY FROM NICARAGUA. 



The many ways of treating the human face as an orna- 

 ment on ancient pottery from Nicaragua is an interesting 

 study, and its combination with the serpent is a remarka- 

 ble feature in this old art to which I shall refer on another 

 occasion. For the present only one of the methods is 

 considered, and this is selected on account of its close re- 



