I have already described the methods of decoration, but may review them briefly here. The bright red color, which forms such a prominent and pleasing feature, is, as stated above, only a ground tint and is not used in any case in the delineation of design. The actual patterns, so varied and interesting, were worked out in a pigment or fluid now totally lost, but which has left traces of its former existence through its effect upon the ground colors. In beginning the decoration, a thin black color, probably of vegetal character, was carried over the area to be treated, and upon this the figures were traced in the lost color. When this color (if it was indeed a pigment, and not merely an acid or “taking out” medium) disappeared, it carried with it the black tint beneath, exposing the light gray and red tints of the ground and leaving the interstices in black. The interstitial figures thus formed are often of such a character as to be taken for the true
design. In examining the decoration of this ware it is essential that this fact should be kept in mind, as otherwise great confusion will result.
The nature of the materials employed cannot be determined. Applied to the polished surface, they were easily removed. The black ground tint is now easily rubbed off and in most cases is much injured by handling or by contact with the soil. The lost color may have been similar to the white, argillaceous pigment used by the Aztecs, which has in many cases partially or wholly disappeared, leaving its marks upon the ground either by deadening the polish or by removing portions of the slip and the paste upon which it was laid, presenting the ornament in intaglio.
The designs are infinitely varied in appearance and arrangement, yet are far from having a mixed or heterogeneous character. It is probably our lack of knowledge of the origin and history of the elements and their derivations that causes confusion. Both geometric and imitative elements abound and are blended in perfectly graded series. The treatment of geometric figures is peculiar to Chiriqui and in many respects is peculiar to this group of ware. Classic forms, such as the meander, the scroll, and the fret, rarely occur and are barely recognizable. It appears from a close study of all the work that motives derived from nature have greatly leavened the whole body of decoration. This matter will receive attention as the examples are presented and will be treated with greater care in a succeeding section.
Plastic decoration, aside from the life forms so commonly associated with the body of the vase and with the handles and legs, is not of importance. The high degree of polish required in this ware tended to simplify all relieved features.
The presence of life forms in relief has produced important modifications in the appearance and the arrangement of the painted devices, and in many cases there is a manifest correlation between the plastic and the painted forms: as, for example, when the body of the vase was thought of as the body of the animal, the extremities of which were placed upon its sides, the colored figures carried out the idea of the creature by imitating in a more or less conventional way the markings of the body. This will be understood through reference to the examples presented in the following pages.
I will present, first, a series of bottles, selecting at the beginning those decorated in the more purely geometric style and gradually approaching those upon which animal forms are treated in a literal manner. The few pieces selected for illustration are totally inadequate to the proper representation of the group and must be regarded only as average specimens, more or less typical in character.
Fig. 163. Small red bottle with horizontal bands of ornament consisting of plain and scalloped lines—½.