Fig. 216. Vase of unique form and decoration—⅓.
It will be seen by reference to Fig. 217 that the painted figures are partially pictorial, the conventional scenes including the sun, the moon, and stars. The more conventional parts of the design are very curious and without doubt are symbolic. The border of fret work is Mexican in style. The sun, which is only partially exposed above the horizon, is outlined in red and is surrounded by red rays. The
figures supposed to represent the moon and the stars are in black. In the illustration the reds of the original are represented by vertical tint lines and the brownish grays by horizontal tint lines. The black is in solid color.
Fig. 217. Painted design of vase in Fig. 216 in black, red, and gray.
[MISCELLANEOUS OBJECTS OF CLAY.]
As primitive peoples advance in culture and the various branches of art are differentiated, each of the materials employed is made to fill a wider and wider sphere of usefulness. Clay, applied at first to vessel making and used perhaps as an auxiliary in a number of arts in which it took no definite or individual shapes, gradually extended its dominion until almost every art was in a measure dependent upon it or in some way utilized it. The extent of this expansion of availability is in a general way a measure of the advancement of the races concerned. The Chiriquians employed clay in the construction of textile machinery, as shown by the occurrence of spindle whorls, and a number of small receptacles, probably needlecases, are constructed of that material. It was employed in the manufacture of stools, statuettes, drums, rattles, and whistles. With less cultured races, such as the Pueblo and mound builders of the north, such articles were rarely manufactured, while with the more cultured nations of Mexico and Peru a wider field was covered and the work was considerably superior.