Fig. 278. Series showing stages in the simplification of animal characters.
The figures of the second series (Fig. 278) are nearly all painted upon low round nodes placed about the body of the alligator vases and hence are inclosed in circles (see [Fig. 197]). The animal figure
in the first example is coiled up like a serpent, but still preserves some of the well known characters of the alligator. In the second example we have a double hook near the center of the space which takes the place of the body, but the dotted triangles are placed separately against the encircling line. In the next figure the body symbol is omitted and the three triangles remain to represent the animal. In the fourth there are four triangles, and the body device, being restored in red, takes the form of a cross. In the fifth two of the inclosing triangles are omitted and the idea is preserved by the simple dots. In the sixth the dots are placed within the bars of the cross, the triangles becoming mere interspaces; and in the seventh the dots form a line between the two encircling lines. This series could be filled up by other examples, thus showing by what infinitesimal steps the transformations take place. The round nodes upon which these medallion-like figures are drawn are survivals of the heads or other parts of animals originally modeled in the round, but in the processes of manufacture partially or wholly atrophied. It was sought to preserve the idea of the creature by the use of painted details, but these, as we have seen, were also in time reduced to formal marks, symbols doubtless in many cases of the conception to which the original plastic form referred.
The derivation of the fret and scroll—most admired of the decorative motives of numerous races—has been a fruitful source of discussion. The vase painting of Chiriqui serves to throw new light upon the subject. We learn by the series of steps illustrated in the annexed cuts that the alligator radical, under peculiar restraints and influences, assumes conventional forms that merge imperceptibly into these classic devices. In the third series given (Fig. 279) the first figure is far removed from the realistic stage of representation, but it is one of the ordinary conventional guises of the alligator. Other still more conventional forms are seen in the three succeeding figures, the last of which is a typical rectangular fret link known and used by most nations of moderate culture. The derivatives in nearly all
the preceding figures can be traced back to the body of the creature as a root, but there are many examples which seem to have come from the delineation of a part of the creature, as the head, foot, eye, or scales—abbreviated representatives of the whole creature. Such parts, assuming the role of radicals, pass also through a series of modifications, ending in purely geometric devices in the manner indicated in the following or fourth series of examples (Fig. 280). In the first cut we have what appears to be the leg and foot of the favorite reptile, and following this are other forms that seem to refer to the same feature. Additional examples are shown in Figs. 281 and 282, which, while they doubtless arose more or less directly from the life form, are not so readily traceable through less conventional antecedents. The first forms part of the incised ornament of a small vase or needlecase and the second is a section of the zonal ornament of the tripod cup illustrated in [Fig. 203], by reference to which it will be seen that the zone of devices serves to connect the head and the tail of the reptile, which are modeled as a part of the vase; the devices
therefore represent the markings of the creature’s body, although they may originally have been derived from the figure of the whole or a part of the animal rather than from the markings of the skin. In other examples still more highly conventional figures are found to hold the same relation to the plastic representation of the extremities of the creature. They include the meander, the scroll, the fret, and the guilloche. We find that in the stone metates of many parts of Central America, nearly all of which are carved to imitate the puma, the head and tail of the creature are connected by bands of similar devices that encircle the margin of the mealing plate (see [Fig. 9]). The alligator form is therefore not necessarily the originator of all such devices. It is probable that any animal form extensively used by such lovers of decoration as the ancient inhabitants of Central America would be found thus interwoven with decoration. These considerations will serve to widen our views upon the origin and development of especial devices. As it now stands we are absolutely certain that no race, no art, no motive or element in nature or in art can claim the exclusive origination of any one of the well known or standard conventional devices, and that any race, art, or individual motive is capable of giving rise to any and to all such devices. Nothing can be more absurd than to suppose that the signification or symbolism attaching to a given form is uniform the world over, as the ideas associated with each must vary with the channels through which they were developed.