Fig. 190. Under surface of vase shown in Fig. 189.
Fig. 191. Small vessel with human figures in high relief and geometric color decoration—½.
I present next (Fig. 191) a piece in which there is no recognizable relationship between the painted and the plastic features. It is a small tripod cup with upright walls, upon which two characteristic Chiriquian human figures, male and female, are fixed. The painted figures upon the sides of the vessel are geometric, but refer possibly to some character or attribute of the modeled figures or are the survivals of figures belonging to vessels of this shape or style before the life forms were associated with them. The legs, however, so far as can be determined, are not related to the human motive, as they are modeled and painted to imitate the heads of alligators.
I shall now present a few shallow bowls or pans mounted upon tripods. They vary in dimensions from a few inches in diameter to a foot or more and are strongly made, symmetrically formed, and neatly finished. The polished surfaces are mainly red. The designs were executed in the usual way in the lost color, upon a black ground, and are confined chiefly to the exterior surface. The alligator is the favorite motive, and in a number of cases is quite graphically, although still conventionally, rendered. As in the preceding examples, the animal heads represented in the legs do not always correspond to the creatures embodied in the painted decoration.
In Fig. 192 we have a representative example of moderate size and ordinary finish. The decorated band is divided into panels, three of which are long and contain figures of the alligator. The other three are short and are filled with conventional devices, related perhaps to that animal. The legs are apparently intended to resemble the heads of alligators. A large piece, nearly twelve inches in diameter, is very similar in shape and decoration, but the legs resemble puma heads.
Fig. 192. Tripod cup, with figures of the alligator—½.