Pottery of the ancient Pueblos Part 8

OLLAS.--A typical example of the chalky ware of Tusayan is ill.u.s.trated in Fig. 315. It is a wide, low vase of symmetrical form. The body is flattened above and hemispherical below. The material is almost as white and as soft as chalk. The design comprises two zones of devices. One occupies the upright neck, and consists of encircling lines interrupted by vertical bands. The other, upon the flattened shoulder, is based upon the meander. Both are bordered by wide bands in the dark color and an additional band encircles the body.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 316.--Vase: Province of Tusayan.--1/3.]

Another handsome little vase is presented in Fig. 316. The two meanders show very diverse styles of treatment. In the upper the lines are all oblique, while in the lower they are chiefly rectangular and much prolonged horizontally. Corresponding treatment of the two bands occurs in other vessels.

The vessel shown in Fig. 317 is very different in appearance from the two preceding, and is much larger and ruder in finish. The surface has been finished with the trowel or hand without polishing. It is ten inches high and the same in width. The whole decoration consists of interlinked meander-units not arranged in belts, but thrown together in a careless manner across the body of the vase. In the Keam collection there is a water bottle nearly twice as large as this, similar in shape and finish, but having a very different though equally rude painted design. This collection contains also the large pot-like vessel or cauldron shown in Fig. 318. The walls are heavy, the lip is rounded, and the form is such as to be very serviceable for ordinary domestic use.

The ornamentation consists of two bands of figures, the upper, as usual, being very simple. The figures of the body zone are in black upon the light ground. Two sets, or pairs, of the triangular links make the circuit of the vessel, the entire ornament appearing in Fig. 319.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 317.--Vase: Province of Tusayan.--1/3.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 318.--Vase: Province of Tusayan.--1/4.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 319.--Painted design.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 320.--Vase: Province of Tusayan.--1/3.]

There is, however, something less simple and consistent in the ornament seen in Fig. 320. The connecting stems of the units are heavy dark lines. The ends of the links are but imperfectly developed or are obscured by elaboration giving a suggestion of degeneracy, but the whole result is highly pleasing. The shape is an exceptional one, the body being flattened to a greater degree than usual. The ground color and the paste are quite white, yet there is in the design and its treatment a suggestion of the decoration of the cream colored ware of Tusayan. This suggestion is emphasized by the occurrence of the two pairs of dark strokes on the neck--a feature more usual in the yellow wares.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 321.--Vase: Province of Tusayan.--1/3.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 322.--Painted design.]

In 1883 Mr. Mindeleff brought in two superb examples of ancient water vases. They are excellent ill.u.s.trations of the skill and taste of the ancient Pueblo potter. The example ill.u.s.trated in Fig. 321 is ten and a half inches in height and twelve inches in diameter. Its form is symmetrical and graceful. The surface has been whitened, but is somewhat uneven and not highly polished. The painted design is well preserved, and consists of two broad belts of devices. The upper, occupying the sloping neck, is a very simple combination of lines, based upon a single white meandered line, and the lower is quite complex and encircles the widest part of the body. The latter appears at first sight to be rather complicated, but is easily resolved into its elements.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 323.--Unit of the design.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 324.--Vase: Province of Tusayan.--1/3.]

The zone is five and a half inches in width and consists of two lines of highly elaborated meanders combined in a most ingenious and pleasing manner. The design is projected in Fig. 322 and compares favorably with the exquisite diaper patterns of oriental decorators. A single unit of its structure is given in Fig. 323. The triangular s.p.a.ces along the border are filled in with fragments of designs harmonious in style with the princ.i.p.al figures. Certain s.p.a.ces of the expanded connecting fillets of the units, are filled in with serrate or dotted lines. Some portion of the design seem to be developed in the white ground, as, for instance, the figures in the lateral triangles.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 325.--Painted design.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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 inters.p.a.ces 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 s.p.a.ces being plain. The princ.i.p.al 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 s.p.a.ce, through which the fillet returns in a series of fine scrolls. The interlocked ends of the units of the princ.i.p.al chain have terminations or hooks angular in two cases and curved in another, demonstrating the ident.i.ty 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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 a.n.a.lysis 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 s.p.a.ce. This is filled with geometric ornamentation in white lines upon a black ground, as shown in Fig. 328. The triangular s.p.a.ces 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 328.--Painted design.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 329.--Unit of the design.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 330.--Vase: Province of Tusayan.--1/3.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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 ill.u.s.trated 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 Zuni 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 mult.i.tudes of fragments are found at old Zuni, 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 cla.s.s of the white ware of Tusayan. The forms are very much the same and the ornaments exhibit similar arrangements of identical motives.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 332.--Vase: Province of Cibola.--1/3.]

The superb vessel ill.u.s.trated 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 Zuni, is ill.u.s.trated 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.

In both form and ornament these bottles exhibit decided resemblances to wicker vessels. The introduction of stepped figures and spiral rays sufficiently demonstrates the textile origin of the painted designs.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 333.--Painted design.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 334.--Painted design.]

A few bottles are larger than the examples given. One having a high narrow neck is seventeen inches high and sixteen in diameter of body.

Generally vases of this shape are below medium size, and they are very often supplied with handles or perforated k.n.o.bs, either upon the shoulder or the neck. In a few cases only the necks are high and slender like the bottles of the mound-builders of the middle Mississippi region.

The vessel ill.u.s.trated in Fig. 335 is not properly cla.s.sified either with the preceding or with the following group, but I place it here on account of its peculiar painted device, which appears in other forms and connections in the two succeeding figures. The ornament as usual occupies two zones, each of which has three groups of vertical lines alternating with as many star-like figures resembling somewhat the Maltese cross. The latter device may possibly have been introduced to represent some idea, and I have no doubt that almost any member of the modern tribes could be induced to give a full explanation of its significance. It would, however, be his idea only and not necessarily that of the ancient potter.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 335.--Vase: Province of Tusayan.--1/3.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 336.--Handled vase: Province of Tusayan.--1/2.]

HANDLED VESSELS.--Handled vessels of this province are greatly varied.

Examples of the dippers have already been given. Besides them there is a long series of vessels with more or less constricted necks; the handles of which are of three or four pretty distinct varieties, including the long vertical loop connecting the rim with the shoulder or body, the strong horizontal loop set at the base of the neck, and the perforated k.n.o.b placed upon the shoulder. There are also a few examples of cup-shaped projections, Fig. 351, and heads of animals, Fig. 352, which are set upon the neck near the rim and seem to be survivals of handles or ornaments merely.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 337.--Painted design.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 338.--Handled mug: Province of Tusayan--1/2.]

The vessel shown in Fig. 336 has an interesting combination of decorative features. I present it here, although a little out of place in my cla.s.sification by form, in order to point out the similarity between its decoration and that of Fig. 335. It is a handsome mug of hard gray ware, finished with a white slip, and decorated with painted designs in the prevailing arrangement. Four equidistant nodes of large size are placed about the shoulder of the vessel. These occur along the middle of the lower zone of painted devices, the notable feature being that the volutes of the painted scroll-work encircle the nodes and inclose, between their interlinked points, cross-like devices, resembling those found upon the preceding specimen. These crosses occupy the apices of the nodes, as shown in the ill.u.s.tration. The painted design is given in Fig. 337. The design proper--the interlinked scrolls--is in white, the dark color being used as a ground to develop it. This is true of a great majority of the examples presented. The same device, with a slightly different combination, is seen in Fig. 338, which ill.u.s.trates a small jug from the Keam collection. The design is well shown in Fig. 339, and in this case it will readily be seen that the motive proper is in white, while the black hooks and the connecting lozenge-shaped figures, forming the cross, represent the ground. This a.s.sociation of the cross with the linking of the scrolls is suggestive of a possible origin of the device as used independently in the instance given in Fig. 335.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 339.--Painted design.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 340.--Vase: Province of Tusayan.--1/3.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 341.--Painted design.]

I shall now present a small group of handled vessels of varying characters upon which we have some ill.u.s.trations of a peculiar treatment of meander motives.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 342.--Handled cup: Province of Cibola.--1/3.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 343.--Painted ornament.]