Fig. 326.—Unit of the design.
The boldness of the primitive decorator is well shown in the manipulation of these large vases. Simplicity and breadth were not sacrificed when it became necessary to carry the oft-repeated figures over the broad surface of such a vessel as that shown in Fig. 324, whose height and width measure fourteen inches each. In shape, in surface treatment, and in the arrangement of the broad belts of decoration this vessel corresponds very closely with the preceding, but the favorite motives are executed in the white color of the ground, and are thrown across the surface of the vessel with charming freedom and boldness. The upper zone encircling the neck is occupied by a large, rather rudely drawn chain of scrolls developed in the white ground by painting the interspaces black. The broad belt of figures encircling the body of the vase is not filled out as in the preceding case, the lower series of triangular spaces being plain. The principal feature consists of a single line of the fret-work developed in the white ground. This is shown in Fig. 325. A unit of the design is given in black in Fig. 326. The connecting curve or stem of the unit incloses a rectangular space, through which the fillet returns in a series of fine scrolls. The interlocked ends of the units of the principal chain have terminations or hooks angular in two cases and curved in another, demonstrating the identity of the curvilinear and the rectilinear forms of this ornament. The small isolated stepped figure between the hooks tells, I imagine, of a textile ancestry.
Fig. 327.—Large vase: Province of Tusayan.—1/9.
In Fig. 327 we have another vase of still higher grade—a very masterpiece of fictile work. It is next to the largest piece of the ancient ware yet described, being twenty-four inches in diameter and upward of twenty inches in height. The form is not quite symmetrical, but the outline is highly satisfactory. The body is full and slightly conical at the base, and above joins the neck with a graceful convex curve. The surface is even and well polished, and the painted design is executed with great precision. The motives employed are identical with the preceding. Scrolls and fretted figures are carried around the neck, shoulder, and body in three bands suited exactly in width and in size of parts to the conformation of the vessel. The simple scrolls of the upper part need no explanation, and a careful analysis of the broader band, as projected in Fig. 328, furnishes a key to its rather extraordinary construction. The dark lines are drawn with mechanical exactness, and the delicate white lines, in which many of the finer details are worked out, are left with a nicety of handling worthy of the most skilled decorator. By a reference to the outline given in Fig. 329 it will be seen that the whole ornament hangs upon a single thread woven into a chain of delicate fret-work running through the middle of the design. The long connecting band of each unit consists of two lines (taking the black lines as representative of the idea or motive), which separate in the middle part, inclosing a wide rectangular space. This is filled with geometric ornamentation in white lines upon a black ground, as shown in Fig. 328. The triangular spaces above are occupied by checker-work of light and heavy lines. The very marked rectangular character of this handsome design indicates familiarity with the textile embodiment of the motive.
Fig. 328.—Painted design.
Fig. 329.—Unit of the design.