Fig. 330.—Vase: Province of Tusayan.—1/3.
Fig. 331.—Vase: Province of Cibola.—1/3.
Bottles.—Under this head I desire to present a number of vases having high, narrow necks. Few examples of the pottery of any people show bolder and more successful treatment than the specimen illustrated in Fig. 330. It is a large, full-bodied bottle, the neck and lip of which unfortunately are lost. The restored outline can profess to be approximate only. The surface is well polished, though gray from age. Two masterly scrolls, formed each of a broad black line bordered by white lines, are thrown across opposite sides of the vase. The ground upon which they are drawn is filled in with series of lines which accommodate themselves very gracefully to the surface of the vessel and to the scrolls.
A number of ancient vessels, found in the hands of the Zuñi Indians, were probably obtained by them from some of the neighboring ruins, although in a few cases they may have been carried from distant places in the north or west. The finer examples correspond very closely to the ware of which multitudes of fragments are found at old Zuñi, San Antonio Springs, Nutria, and other places in or near the province of Cibola. They seem to be identical also in many respects with the better class of the white ware of Tusayan. The forms are very much the same and the ornaments exhibit similar arrangements of identical motives.
Fig. 332.—Vase: Province of Cibola.—1/3.
The superb vessel illustrated in Fig. 331, is a typical example of the work of the ancient potters of Cibola. In form it falls but little short of perfect symmetry. The body is nearly globular, being slightly compressed vertically. The neck is small and the lip slightly recurved. The surface, originally white, now darkened from use, is well polished excepting where roughened by age. In Fig. 333 we have a partial projection of the painted design obtained by viewing the vase vertically. This may be described as a rosette of spiral rays which consist of gracefully meandered lines alternating with groups of plain stripes. These are developed in the light color of the vase by painting in a black ground. Viewed from the side the decoration is seen to consist of the two usual zones—a narrow one about the neck, occupied by a meander, and a broad one covering the greater part of the body, crossed obliquely by a number of bands of ornament.
A similar vase, also from Zuñi, is illustrated in Fig. 332. It is much darkened by use and age and has suffered considerably from wear and tear. The ornament consists of three zones, a band of stepped figures about the neck, a handsome meander-chain with terraced links upon the rounded collar, and a broad belt of radiating meanders encircling the body. A vertical view showing the two outer lines of decoration is given in Fig. 334. A peculiar feature in this vessel is the indented finger-hold seen in the lower part of the body, Fig. 332.