184 ANCIENT ART l>K TMK I'KdVINCK OF CHIRK.)!-!. 



It has HOW been shown that lilV I'ornis and tlieir varied derivatives 

 constitute the great body of Chiriquian decorative motives; that 

 when first introduced the delineations are more or less realistic, ac- 

 cording to the skill of the artist or the dciiiaiuls uf iln- ai-t; but that 

 in time, by a long series of abbreviatillll^ and alii-iati'uis. they de- 

 scend to simple geometric forms in which all xisihlc r(jn]ii'ction with 

 the originals is lost. The agencies through which this result is accom- 

 plished are chiefly the mechanical restraints of the art acting inde- 

 l^endently of voluntary modification and without direct exercise of 

 esthetic desire. 



There may be forces at work of which we find no clear indications. 

 Some of the conventional forms into which life forms are found to 

 grade may be survivals of forms originating in other regions and 

 belonging to other cultiires which have through accidents of contact 

 imposed themselves upon Chiriquian art ; such are the scroll, the 

 fret, and the guilloclie ; but the thorough manner in which such forms 

 are interwoven with purely Chiriquian cdiu ri)ticins makes it impos- 

 sible to substantiate such a theory. Thr cciirlusion most easily and 

 most naturally reached is that all are pn il)al ily indigenous to Chiriqui, 

 and hence the striking dedurtion that the processes of modification 

 inherent in the art are of such a nature that any animal form ex- 

 tensively used in decoration, may give rise to (ihij or all of the 

 highly conventional forms of ornament. 



During the progress of this study a question has frequently been 

 raised as to the extent to which the memory of the creature original 

 or of its symbolism in first use was kept alive in the mind of the 

 decorator. It is a well cstablishi'd fact that ]irimitive peoples habit- 

 ually invest inanimate nlijiMts wiih I licait ril)utcs<if living ci-i'atures. 

 Thus the vessel, from tlic time it assuiiics individual shape and is 

 fitted to perform a function, is thought of as a living being, and by 

 the addition of plastic or painted details it becomes a particular 

 creature, an alligator, a fish, or a jmina. each df which is in most 

 cases the symbol of some myth(d(i;;ic CLiicciit. Wlicn. tlirough the 

 changes of convention in infinite ri'petiliim, all resemblance to indi- 

 vidual creatures was lost and mere knobs or simple geometric figures 

 occupied the surface of the vessel, there is little doubt that many of 

 these features still recalled to the mind of the potter the ultimate 

 originals and the conceptions of which they wei-e the representatives, 

 and that others represented ideas, the outgrowth of or a development 

 from primary ideas, while still others had acquired entirely new ideas 

 from without. It cannot be denied, however, that there does come a 

 time in the history of vase painting at which such associated ideas 

 become vague and are lost and elements formerly significant are added 

 and combinations of them are made for embellishment alone, without 

 reference to meaning or appropriateness; but I am inclined to place 

 this period a very long way from the initiatory stages of the art. It 



