stools. 35 



Stools. — There is a small group of stone carvings to which the names circular 

 metates, mortars or stools might apply almost equally well. Their kinship to the 

 metates has already been mentioned. If the sculptor were to begin with a block of 

 stone whose length was greater than its breadth or thickness he would end with a 

 metate. If on the other hand, all three dimensions of the original block were 

 about equal, the final product would be the so-called stool. Both groups have 

 a plate showing the effects of use. In either group this plate may be supported 

 by a solid column, a hollow stand in the sides of which openings are cut, or by 

 four legs. Even the guilloche ornament so common to the metates is also found 

 on some of the stools. The latter might well have served as seats, in which case 

 continuous use would have smoothed the surface of the plate. While the wear 

 on the stools is unmistakable, it is not quite so marked as on the metates. 



In speculating on the use to which these objects were put it should be noted 

 that similar stools were also made of clay. That the latter were used either as 

 mortars or stools, is highly improbable. Holmes suggests that they may have been 

 employed as supports for articles, such as vases or idols, or possibly as altars. 



One difference between metates and stools, which may point to a difference in 

 their use, will suggest itself by consulting the illustrations, viz., the association 

 of the jaguar with the metate and that of the monkey and man with the stool. 

 It is true that the heads suspended from the plate of one of the stools (see PL IV, 

 fig. b) may possibly be referred to the jaguar. Holmes also describes a clay stool 

 supported by " two rudely modeled ocelots and two monkey- like figures," but 

 these are rare exceptions that prove the rule. 



A series of five stools is given in Plate IV. One of the ruder forms is shown 

 in figure a. The top is concave; its margin is decorated with nine animal heads. 

 Four vertical openings are cut in the syies of the hollow bell-shaped support. 

 A somewhat similar but more finished stool is reproduced in figure b. There is 

 a more highly developed border to the plate, from which hang four jaguar-like 

 heads. The peripheral ornamentation consists of a series of disconnected sigmoid 

 scrolls for three-fourths of the way and of a simple guilloche pattern for one- 

 fourth. In one of its stages the guilloche becomes a series of linked S's — a proof 

 that it and the scroll have a common origin, as pointed out by Holmes. The 

 sides of the hollow stand are nearly vertical, the spread being confined almost 

 wholly to the continuous foot. A stool similar to the two foregoing, but of more 

 finished workmanship and about three times as large, was found recently at Mer- 

 cedes, Costa Rica, and is now in the Keith collection. The tallest of the seats 

 (fig. c) is supported by four round legs ; near the top of each there is a human 

 head in relief. Just above these, encircling the plate, are thirty small animal heads. 



The support for the seat becomes frankly zoomorphic in figure d. Four monkey- 

 like figures stand on the slender basal ring, carrying the circular seat-plate on 

 their heads and uplifted hands. While all four monkeys are equidistant from each 

 other, they are also grouped in pairs by bringing the tips of the tails and the 

 two adjacent elbows into contact, forming in this way a delicate and continuous 

 tracery reaching half-way round the specimen. The same thing is repeated on 

 the opposite side. The only lack of bilateral symmetry in the two halves is due 

 to an accident that happened to the piece, presumably while it was still in the 



