80 MEXICO AND CENTRAL AMERICA 



the common decorative use of hieroglyphs serves to 

 mark off Mayan pottery from that of other Central 

 American peoples. The realistic designs are drawn in 

 accordance with the highest principles of decorative 

 art. Serpents, monkeys, jaguars, various birds, as well 

 as priests and supernatural beings, are used as subjects 

 for pottery embellishment. Geometric decoration is 

 also much used. 



The polychrome pottery is rare and exceptionally 

 beautiful, with designs relating to religious subjects. 

 The background color of these cylindrical vases is 

 usually orange or yellow, the designs are outlined in 

 black, and the details filled in with delicate washes of 

 red, brown, white, etc. The surface bears a high 

 polish made by rubbing. Plate XVII reproduces the de- 

 sign units on two vases from Chama, Guatemala. The 

 first example pictures a seated man with a widespread- 

 ing headdress made of two conventional serpent heads 

 from the ends of which issue the plumes of the quetzal. 

 The hieroglyphs are Mayan day signs — Ben and Imix 

 on the left and Kan and Caban on the right. The 

 second example presents a god before an altar. This 

 god has the face of an old man and his body is attached 

 to a spiral shell. This divinity has been called the Old 

 Man God. He was probably associated with the end 

 of the year. 



In the next illustration an engraved design on a bowl 

 from northern Yucatan is given. A jaguar attired in 

 the dress of man is seated in a wreathe of water lilies. 

 After the vessel had been formed, but before it had been 

 fired, this design was made by cutting away the back- 

 ground and incising finer details on the original surfaces. 

 Other designs in relief were obtained by direct modeling 

 or by stamping. The stamps were moulds or negatives 

 made from bas-relief patterns. 



