IX VASK PAINTIX( 



ISl 



in the first example is coiled up like a serpent, but still preserves 

 some of the well known characters of the alligator. In the sec- 

 ond example we have a double hook near the center of the space 

 which takes the place of the body, but the dotted triangles are 

 ])laced separately against the encircling line. In he next figure 

 the body symbol is omitted and the three triangles remain to reji- 

 resent the animal. In the fovirth there are four triangles, and the 

 bodv device, being restoi-ed in i-od. takes the form of a cross. In tlie 



278. Series Showing: .stages 



plification of animal characters. 



fiftll 



two of the inclosing tr-iangles are omitted and the idea is pre- 

 .served by the simple dots. In the sixth tlie duts are placi-d within 

 the bars of the cross, the triangles becoming nific iiitiTs|.ares : and 

 in the seventh the dots form a line between the twn ,'iicircling lines. 

 This series could be filled up by other examples, thus showing by 

 what infinitesimal steps the transformations take place. The round 

 nodes upon which these iiicdallii Hi-like figures are diMwn are survivals 

 (.f the heads or other parts Mf animals wii-inally ni. "leled ill the round. 

 Imt in tlie processes of manufacture partially nr wholly atrophied. It 

 was sought to preserve the idea of the creature by the use of painted 

 details, but these, as we have seen, were also in time reduced to formal 

 marks, symbols doubtless in many cases of the conception to which 

 the original plastic form referred. 



The derivation of the fret and scroll — most admired of the decora- 

 tive motives of numerous races — has been a fruitful source of dis- 

 cussion. The vase painting of Chiriqui serves to throw new light 

 upon the subject. We learn by the series of steps illustrated in the 

 annexed cuts that the alligator radical, \mder peculiar restraints and 

 influences, assumes conventional forms that merge imperceptibly 

 into these classic devices. In the third series given (Fig. 279) the first 

 figure is far removed from the realistic stage of representation, but it 

 is one of the ordinary conventional guises of the alligator. Other 

 still more conventional forms are seen in the three succeeding figures, 

 the last of which is a typical rectangular fret link known and used 

 bs- most nations of modcn-ate culture. Tlie derivatives in nearly all 



