November 5, 1886.] 



SCIUJ^CU. 



403 



The temptations of such unbridled hypotheses 

 are the curse of anthropology, and it is extraordi- 

 nary that such a veteran as Hamy should become 

 entangled in their meshes. 



W. H. Dall, 



AN ARCHEOLOGICAL FRAUD. 



An interesting vase, purporting to be ancient 

 Mexican in origin, was offered for sale some 

 months ago to the American museum of natural 

 history by a collector, and was reserved for possi- 

 ble purchase, and exhibited in the cabinet of that 

 institution. Its grotesque features and the sym- 

 metrical and effective combination and arrange- 

 ment of its ornamentation make it a very notice- 

 able object ; but a closer examination destroys the 



the highly modern character of the handle in 

 design is flagrantly recent. The artist was un- 

 fortunate, also, in selecting a crocodUe for this 

 conspicuous ' coigne of vantage,' as that great 

 reptile does not frequent the tierra temjjlada of 

 Mexico, and would be only used in art decoration 

 of the aborigines of the hot and lagoon intersected 

 lowlands. The numerous and equidistant circles 

 seen in the photograph on the surface of the 

 cover are fraudulent. The rim of the vase im- 

 mediately below the cover, uj)on which the cover 

 rests, is probably a separate piece from the body 

 of the vase, and is too rectangular in its setting on 

 the neck of the same, though very nearly this is seen 

 in genuine examples. Its circular ornamentation 

 is not Aztecan. The body of the vase is very 

 meretricious, if the author of this unique object 



first pleasurable impressions by raising serious 

 doubts as to its virtual antiquity. It may be 

 serviceable to collectors generally to caU attention 

 to this striking instance of very probable fraudu- 

 lent work, as it is a most elaborate effort of the 

 potter, and to indicate its points of divergence 

 from the veritable specimens of Aztecan aboriginal 

 workmanship. The piece purported to be pre- 

 Columbian. 



Beginning at the top of the vase, the cover 

 almost instantly excites suspicion. It is too 

 symmetrically convex and too cap-shaped, while 



meant it to resemble true Mexican art. The neck 

 is unnaturally constricted, and the cavity of the 

 vase too globose, in the style of modern ceramic 

 objects of this description. The Aztec moulded 

 the expanded portion or receptacle, in vases of 

 this character, more gradually upwards into the 

 neck, producing a long slant, not a sudden break. 

 The extraordmary collar of masks, which is 

 almost a chef d'oeuvre in its way, is a copy im- 

 mensely improved upon, of similar conceits in 

 genuine antiques, one of which can be seen by 

 New York students in the Metropolitan art 



