KIDDER— CASAS GRANDES POTTERY 



The most characteristic pieces of the first class are jars which bear 

 on opposite sides two bird-heads modeled in the round (pi. II, fig. 7), 

 or the head on one side and a conventional tail on the other (pi. 11, 

 fig. 9). The birds are evidently some species of parrot, and the por- 

 trayal is fairly realistic, showing the heavy upper mandible, the 

 smaller lower one, and the tongue. The representation is completed 

 by the use of paint, the eye being indicated by a black circle con- 

 taining a dot; the top and sides of the head are colored red, the throat 

 and lower mandible black. When the tail takes the place of a second 

 head it consists of a flat, horizontal projection with little or no attempt 

 at naturalism. Other pieces with added sculptures in the round are 



Fig. 1. — Plastic ornament. 



shown in figure 1. The former has two crouching animals under the 

 rim; the latter presumably represents a quadruped, although the head 

 is somewhat birdlike. 



Also formed by additions to standard-shaped jars but with their 

 parts in low relief rather than in the round, are examples such as appear 

 in plate II, figures 1 and 4. Number 4 is an arrangement of two 

 serpents so coiled about the vessel as to cover its entire surface and 

 end with their heads on opposite sides. The bodies and heads are 

 formed, partly by repousse work, partly by building up on the out- 

 side. The other example (pi. 11, fig. 1) has a human face in low relief 

 on each side of a rather stout standard jar. In this case there is no 

 repousse work, the features merely having been added to the rounded 

 wall of the vessel. Brows, ears, eyes, nose, mouth, and chin are built 

 up from the surface, pinched or modeled into some semblance of 

 naturalism, and picked out with paint. Both the mouth and the eyes 

 are made by cutting a shallow horizontal groove in an applied oval 

 pellet of clay. Plate 1, figure 10, shows a second specimen of this 

 type; the eyes of this one are small, round protuberances; the pupils 

 are indicated by dots of paint. 



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