(British Museum)

Fig. 37.—Designs from Mexican pottery; late valley type.

The art of pottery was highly developed amongst all the tribes hitherto mentioned, in spite of the facts that the use of the potter’s wheel was unknown, and that the method of firing was very primitive. No kilns were constructed, but the pots were fired by means of wood fuel in the open air, perhaps in a hole in the ground. The quality of the potting varies considerably according to locality, but the finer examples, such as the ware from Cholula and the Totonac district, exhibit a very high standard of paste, form and technique, though the potters of this region of America cannot boast such consummate mastery over their material as the early inhabitants of the Peruvian coast. The fact, that in the later years prior to the conquest pottery had become an article of trade and tribute, led to a wide dispersal of local types from centres of manufacture which had acquired a reputation for skill in the art; and considerable borrowing of forms and ornament had resulted. At the same time, provided that the possibility of importation be not overlooked, the pottery remains afford much valuable evidence as to the interrelation of the tribes and the early history of the country. The coordination of this evidence is however only just at its commencement; careful excavations with due regard to the stratification of remains have been made at a few points in the valley, and the results have proved of such importance that similar researches throughout the whole of Mexico and Central America are most earnestly desired by all students of American archæology. In the valley of Mexico the local ware manufactured under the Aztec régime is easily recognizable. Fragments of coarse undecorated vessels are found, which appear to have been made by the simple expedient of plastering a basket over with clay and then firing, the basket being destroyed in the process. But the most characteristic ware falls into two main varieties. The first is moulded of an orange or reddish yellow clay, fairly well baked, but often showing a dark line down the middle of a fracture; the walls of the vessels are very thin, and the surfaces carefully smoothed, though not highly burnished. The commonest forms are shallow tripod bowls (Fig. [36, 3]), standing cups and jugs with handles, and the ornament consists of small geometrical designs in black (Fig. [37]). Moulded ornament is not common, though gadrooned bodies are occasionally found; incised decoration is confined to the utilitarian process of scoring the bottoms of bowls for use as graters in the preparation of peppersauce (chilmolli), and applied ornament is practically non-existent. Miniature tripod bowls with smooth bottoms are found, used to support the revolving spindle in the operation of spinning, and incense-spoons were also manufactured in this ware. The second main type consists chiefly of hour-glass shaped standing cups, of reddish, softer paste, with thicker walls coated with a burnished red slip and painted with black and white linear designs also in slip (Fig. [36, 2]). Less common are bowls of greyish paste with burnished red and yellow slip coating, on which are well-drawn curvilinear patterns in black, or bowls of grey ware with a very highly burnished yellow slip with a matt design in slip of similar colour. Characteristic, too, of this district are two-handled censers, heavy and solid in construction, of grey clay with a black burnished surface, or of reddish clay with a burnished red slip (Fig. [36, 1]). Besides vessels, pottery figurines are found in great numbers, in the form of various gods, warriors, miniature temples, and so forth (Pl. [IX, 2–6]). These are in a hard red ware or a very soft pale cream clay; some are solid, while others are hollow and form rattles or whistles; most of these figurines were evidently made in moulds. Excavations have shown that the valley type of pottery occurs only in the surface layers, and is therefore comparatively recent and represents a period of short duration; beneath it, and extending to a considerable depth, are found fragments of a ware which is especially associated with the ruined city of Teotihuacan. The most characteristic form belonging to this period is a circular bowl with vertical, or almost vertical, sides supported on three feet, either flat or of the cascabel type (Fig. [38]). These vases are usually coated with a burnished red, yellow, brown or black slip, and are either plain or are ornamented with bold incised curvilinear patterns, or human and animal masks moulded in relief. Impressed designs were also applied by means of stamps. Flat shallow bowls of this ware are also found, and graceful vases with everted lip, but the finest specimens are covered with polychrome ornament of a peculiar technique. The design is engraved in the outer slip, and the background cut away, leaving the former standing out against the matt colour of the paste; in some cases the intaglio portions have received a coating of cinnabar or vermilion, and in the most beautiful examples the excised portions have been filled with slip of various colours, rendering the finished vase a kind of polychrome champ-levé in clay, a vivid blue-green being the most prominent colour. Vases are also found with a design produced by the alternation of matt and burnished surfaces. A peculiar feature of Teotihuacan is constituted by the innumerable small pottery heads which are found there (Pl. [IX, 3]). These are in a hard reddish clay, and appear to have been made by hand and not in moulds. Many are without attributes, and among the others only the god Tlaloc can be identified with certainty. One class of head is shown with a turban-like head-dress, which, as will be seen later, is characteristic of the Maya (e.g. Fig. [81]; p.339); a figure with similar head-dress usually forms the support of the circular pattern of censer characteristic of this Teotihuacan culture.

Fig. 38.—Pottery vase from Teotihuacan.

PLATE XV.

British Museum