Fig. 439.—Fluted bottle: Arkansas.—⅓.
Fig. 440.—Engraved bottle: Arkansas. (?)—⅓.
There are many good examples of engraved geometric designs upon bottle-shaped vessels. One of the most elaborate is presented in Fig. 440. This vessel has a full, wide neck, a heavy, flattened body, and a broad rudimentary foot. The color is quite dark, and the surface well polished. The engraved design consists of four elaborate, interlinked scrolls, comprising a number of lines, and bordered by wing-like, triangular figures, filled in with reticulated lines. This latter feature is often associated with native delineations of mythic reptiles, and it is not impossible that this scroll work is a highly conventionalized form of some such conception. The four volute centers are slightly concave.
Three excellent examples of tripod bottles are illustrated in the accompanying figures. The first, Fig. 441, is a large-necked, rather clumsy vessel of ordinary workmanship, which rests upon three globular legs. These are hollow and the cavities connect with that of the body of the vessel. The whole surface is well polished and very dark.
Fig. 441.—Tripod bottle: Arkansas.(?)—⅓.
The vessel depicted in Fig. 442 has a number of noteworthy features. In shape, it resembles the preceding with the exception of the legs, which are flat and have stepped or terraced margins. The whole surface of the vessel is decorated with characteristic designs in red and white upon a warm gray ground. A stepped figure, resembling the Pueblo emblematic "rim of the sky," encircles the neck, and semicircular figures in white appear on opposite sides at the top and base. The body is covered with scroll work in broad red lines, the spaces being filled in with white in the form of a thick earthy paste. Each of the legs has one-half red and the other white.
The vessel illustrated in Fig. 443 is of ordinary, dark, polished ware, and is entirely plain. It is peculiar in the shape of its extremities. The neck resembles a long truncated cone, and the legs are heavy and conical, being not unlike those of a common iron pot.