12G ANCIENT ART OF THE PROVINCE OF CHIRIQUI. 



other groups. This is a result porhajjs of the unusual degree of j)ol 

 ish given to all i^arts of the surface ^jreparatory to the aijjilication 

 of designs in color, the pnx^esses tending to subdue and simplify 

 the salient features. 



With reference to life forms it has already been pointed out tliat 

 the painted figures generally imitate or typify animal forms, and it 

 is important to note that the.se figures are in very many cases used 

 as auxiliaries to plastic features in the development of particular 

 conceptions. This is shown to advantage in Fig. 188, which illus- 

 trates a small, well formed bottle, having two large human-like heads 

 attached to opposite sides <jf the body. There are no other plastic 

 features, but the heads are supplied with arms and legs, rudelj' ex- 

 pressed in black lines, which are really the interspaces of the lines 

 drawn in the Inst color. These painted parts occupy the zone usiially 

 (li'volcil to (||.i-. nation and, as will be seen by reference to the cut, re- 

 seinl)le closely the radiate or meandered figures seen in vases of the 

 class shown in Fig. 167. The arms are joined to the lower part of 

 the head and extend upward to the neck of the vessel, where they 

 terminate in rudely suggested fingers. Rising to the right and left 

 of the arms are legs terminating as do the arms. A double row of 

 dots is carried along each membei and thus ^\ e ha\ e a suggestion of 



the relation of the dots and dotted lines, seen in more highly con- 

 ventional forms, to the markings of the creature represented or sym- 

 bolized. The grotesque faces are covered with lines which follow the 

 forms as if imitating markings upon the skin. Another example, 

 equally suggestive, also employing an animal form, is shown in Fig. 

 189. It is a cu]). niimnti'd upon three feet, which has attached to 



one side the lira<l of a | cary, modeled with more than usual skill. 



The ears of tlic animal appear at the sides of the vessel and the 

 tail is opposite the head. The lines and dots seen upon the head 

 are carried along the sides of the vessel as far as the ears and un- 



