THE HANDLED GROUP OF PAINTED WARE. 



77 



or neck. Seldom is the outer surface of the flange or lip painted, but its inner surface 

 is always painted either wholly or in part. The handles are entirely free from paint. 



The character of the unpainted areas would seem to indicate that a slip was 

 rarely and sparingly used. The finish of the interior is even more neglected than 

 that of the exterior. The walls of the vessels are generally much thicker at the 

 bottom than elsewhere, a character serving at least one useful purpose, since it 

 affords a certain degree of stable equilibrium to a form that would otherwise be 

 unstable. The bases are more or less rounded and never supplied with annular 

 supports. It is true that many vessels of similar material, form and finish are 

 mounted as tripods ; but these are placed for convenience with the tripod or fish 

 group. It will be seen later that those mounted as tripods are much smaller than 

 their counterparts in the handled group, and the type of handle is also different. 



The handled ware proper may be divided into sub-groups depending on the 

 style of handle. In one of these the paired handles are placed vertically, uniting 



Fig. 121. — Vase with carapace symbol 

 ornamenting base of handles. Painted 

 handled ware. 2 /« 



Fig. 122. — Vase whose handle decorations re- 

 present either fin or carapace motives. 

 Painted handled ware. 2 /» 



lip with shoulder, a form that is common also to the armadillo ware. In another 

 the handles are attached to the shoulder of the vessel alone and in a horizontal 

 position, a type that is common to the unpainted handled ware. Single handles, 

 either of the vertical type or that spanning the orifice from lip to lip, are extremely 

 rare. Animal forms attached to the shoulder of the vessel sometimes take the 

 place of handles and, as has already been said, handles may be entirely wanting. 



The orifice of the vessel is always round, but the character of the lip or flange 

 surrounding it depends upon the type of handle. Where the handle is attached 

 to the shoulder alone, or where there are no handles, the lip is circular also, 

 and every point on its margin is in one and the same horizontal plane. On the 

 other hand, an oval lip carried upward at both ends goes with the vertical handle. 



Hitherto the ornamentation has been the work of the sculptor or engraver. 

 We now have to reckon with a new force in the domain of decoration, viz., 

 color or, rather, paint. Whether or not the summary fashion in which the paint 

 is here applied, represents the beginning of a new art era or a decadent phase 

 of the same, it is not within the province of the present study to determine. It 

 is, however, worth while to note the effect of the painter's work on that of the 

 sculptor and engraver, where all three are combined in one whole. In the first 



