This section is to be devoted to a short study of the decorative system
of the ancient Chiriquians, and more especially to a consideration of
the treatment of life forms in vase painting. Many of the finest
examples of these designs, so far as execution and effect in
embellishment are concerned, have already been given; but it is
desirable now to select and arrange a series to illustrate origins and
processes of growth or modification.
Elements of ornament flow into the ceramic art from a number of sources,
but chiefly in two great currents: the one from art, and consisting
chiefly of technical or mechanically produced phenomena, and hence
geometric, and the other from nature, and carrying elements primarily
delineative, and hence non-geometric. When once within the realm of
decoration the various motives or elements are subject to modification
by two classes of influences or conditioning forces: the technical
restraints of the art and the esthetic forces of the human mind.
Mechanical and geometric elements, although born within the art or its
associated arts, are modified in the processes of adaptation to the
changing requirements and conditions of the art and through the tendency
towards elaboration under the guidance of the esthetic forces; left by
themselves they remain, throughout all changes of use and modification
of form, purely geometric. Imitative elements tend, under the same
influences, to move in the direction of the unreal or geometric. In this
way the realistic forms undergo marked changes, gradually assuming a
geometric character and finally losing all semblance of nature.
Now it must be noted that the decorations of any group of art products
may embody both classes of elements or they may be restricted rather
closely to either. This fact enables us to account for many of the
strongly marked distinctions observed in the decorative systems of
different communities, races, and times. In a recent study of ancient
Pueblo art I traced the decoration to a mechanical origin, mainly in the
art of basketry, and thus accounted for its highly geometric character.
Chiriquian art presents a strong contrast to this, as the great body of
elements are manifestly derived from nature by delineative imitation. It
was further observed in Pueblo art that as time went on life forms were
little by little introduced into its decoration and that in recent times
they shared the honors equally with the primitive geometric forms. In
Chiriquian art we find but meager traces of a primitive geometric
system, and conclude that either the earliest art of the people did not
give rise to such a system or that the graphic motives, entering
gradually and steadily multiplying, supplanted the archaic forms,
finally usurping nearly the entire field. As noticed in the preceding
sections, there is always a certain amount of geometricity in the
arrangement and the enframing of the designs, as well as a certain
degree of convention in the treatment of even the most graphic motives;
but these characters may be due to the restraining conditions of the
art, rather than to the survival of original or ancestral features or
characters.
In beginning the study of Chiriquian decorative art I found it
impossible to approach the subject advantageously from the geometric
side, as was done in the Pueblo study, since life elements so thoroughly
permeate every part of it. I have, therefore, turned about, and in the
following study present first the more realistic delineations of nature,
arranging long series of derivative shapes which descend through
increasing degrees of convention to purely geometric forms. These
remarks relate wholly to the plan or linear arrangement of the motives.
As to method of realization, ceramic ornament may be arranged in two
classes: the plastic or relieved and the non-plastic or flat. Life forms
are freely rendered by both plastic and non-plastic methods, and in
either style may range from the highly realistic to the purely
geometric. As shown in a preceding section, plastic life forms in
Chiriquian art appear to have been subject to two divergent lines of
thought, the one trivial and the other serious. Through the one we have
grotesque and perhaps even humorous representations of men and of
animals. The figures are attached to the vessels for the
purpose--perhaps for the exclusive purpose--of embellishment, and often
with excellent success, as judged by our own standards of taste. The
other deals with plastic representations apparently of a serious nature,
although utilized also for embellishment. The animal forms employed are
treated in a way to suggest that in the mind of the artist the creature
bore a definite relation to the vessel or its use, a relationship
originating in superstition and preserved throughout all changes of
form. Their office was symbolic, and this office was probably not always
lost sight of by the potter, even though, through the forces of
convention, the animal shapes were reduced to mere knobs, ridges, or
even to painted devices.
In color delineations, although the same subjects are to a great extent
employed, there is necessarily greater constraint--there is less freedom
as well as less vigor in the presentation of natural forms. There is
apparently no attempt at the grotesque or amusing. The variants are
practically infinite. The work is more purely decorative and is perhaps
less subject to the restraints of associated ideas and of use with
particular vessels or in definite relations to other features of the
vessel. At the same time it is manifest that these painted figures are
not all merely meaningless decorations, but that many, throughout all
degrees of modification, refer with greater or less clearness to natural
originals, to ideas associated with these originals, or to the
relationship of these originals to the vessel and its uses.
It is clear, however, that a considerable body of nature-derived
elements, plastic and painted, are employed as simple embellishments,
having no other function. This suggests the separation of all
decorations into two grand divisions, based upon the kind of thoughts
associated with them. These divisions may be designated as significant
and non-significant, the term significant referring not to the mere
identification of a device with an original form or to its office as an
ornament, but to its symbolism, to its mystic relation with the vessel
and its uses. But I have to do here with the forms taken by motives,
with their morphology rather than with their signification, as the
latter must, with reference to archæologic material, remain greatly
speculative.
In the application of life forms in vase painting several classes of
modifying and constraining agencies of a technical nature are present,
and the following examples are grouped with the idea of defining these
classes of forces and keeping them in a measure distinct.
[Illustration: Fig. 257. Graphic delineation of the alligator, from
a vase of the lost color group.]
[Illustration: Fig. 258. Graphic delineation of the alligator, from
a vase of the lost color group.]
Of all the animal forms utilized by the Chiriquians the alligator is the
best suited to the purpose of this study, as it is presented most
frequently and in the most varied forms. In Figs. 257 and 258 I
reproduce drawings from the outer surface of a tripod bowl of the lost
color group. Simple and formal as these figures are, the characteristic
features of the creature--the sinuous body, the strong jaws, the
upturned snout, the feet, and the scales--are forcibly expressed. It is
not to be assumed that these examples represent the best delineative
skill of the Chiriquian artist. The native painter must have executed
very much superior work upon the more usual delineating surfaces, such
as bark and skins. The examples here shown have already experienced
decided changes through the constraints of the ceramic art, but are the
most graphic delineations preserved to us. They are free hand products,
executed by mere decorators, perhaps by women, who were servile copyists
of the forms employed by those skilled in sacred art.
[Illustration: Fig. 259. Conventional alligator, from the lost color
ware.]
A third illustration from the same group of ware, given in Fig. 259,
shows, in some respects, a higher degree of convention. The scales are
here represented by triangular dentals, which occupy the entire length
of the back. These dentals are filled with the round dots that stand
singly in the preceding cases.
[Illustration: Fig. 260. Style of convention in the alligator group
of ware.]
[Illustration: Fig. 261. Style of convention in the alligator group
of ware.]
In another class of ware--the alligator group--the treatment is quite
different, being decidedly more clumsy and realized by distinct
processes; but prominence is given to a number of corresponding
features. The strong curve of the back, the dentals and dots, and the
muzzle and mouth refer apparently to the same creature. The curiously
marked panel in the body of the last example is a unique feature, which
appears, however, in a few other cases.
These drawings occur upon the sides of vases, alternating with the
plastic features, and are perhaps generally associated with such
features in the expression of some mythical idea.
The modeled creature is often represented with two heads instead of with
a head and a tail, and the painted forms, in many cases, exhibit the
same peculiarity as shown in Fig. 262. I surmise that the employment of
two heads arises from the need of securing perfect balance of parts
rather than as an original product of the imagination.
[Illustration: Fig. 262. Two headed form of the alligator.]
It will be interesting, as additional examples are presented, to note
the effect of modification upon particular features of the animal, to
observe how some come into prominence, representing the creature and the
idea, while others fall into disuse and disappear. In nature the line of
the body is perhaps the most strongly characteristic feature, and it is
in art the most persistent. It survives in the stems of many
conventional devices from which all other suggestions of the animal have
vanished.
[Illustration: Fig. 263. Figure of the alligator much simplified.]
The following examples depart still further from nature, approaching the
border line between the distinctly imitative and the purely conventional
or geometric phases. In the first (Fig. 263) all the leading features
are recognizable, but are very much simplified. The jaws are without
teeth, the head is without eyes, and the body without indication of
scales. The other example (Fig. 264) is of a somewhat different type and
may possibly refer to some other reptilian form, but many links
connecting the two are found. The shape is more angular and is a step
further removed from nature. From shapes as conventional as this we drop
readily into purely geometric forms, as will be seen further on. These
and the preceding drawings are all executed on broad surfaces, where
fancy could have free play. The modifying or conventionalizing forces
are, therefore, quite vague. Variation from natural forms is due partly
to a lack of skill on the part of the painter, partly to the peculiar
demands of ceramic embellishment, and partly to the traditional style of
treatment acquired in still more primitive stages of culture and in
other and unidentified branches of art.
[Illustration: Fig. 264. The alligator much modified by ceramic
influences.]
[Illustration:
Fig. 265.
Fig. 266.
Fig. 267.
Illustrations of the influence of the shape of spaces upon the
delineation of animal forms.]
I shall now call attention to some important individualized or well
defined agencies of convention. First, and most potent, may be mentioned
the enforced limits of the spaces to be decorated, which spaces take
shape independently of the subject to be inserted. When the figures must
occupy a narrow zone they are elongated, when they must occupy a square
they are restricted longitudinally, and when they must occupy a circle
they are of necessity coiled up. Fig. 265 illustrates the effect
produced by crowding the oblong figure into a short rectangular space.
The head is turned back over the body and the tail is thrown down along
the side of the space. In Fig. 266 the figure occupies a circle, and is
in consequence closely coiled up, giving the effect of a serpent rather
than an alligator. In Fig. 267 the space is semicircular, and we observe
peculiar conventional conditions, some of which may be due to other
causes. For example, such spaces may originally have been filled with
purely geometric figures, which tended to impart their own characters to
the life forms that supplanted them.
[Illustration: Fig. 268. Delineation retaining but slight traces of
the life form.]
[Illustration: Fig. 269. Delineation retaining but slight traces of
the life form.]
[Illustration: Fig. 270. Delineation retaining but slight traces of
the life form.]
Now, it often happens that, as in the last example given, the animal
form, literally rendered, does not fill the panels satisfactorily. The
head and the tail do not correspond and there is a lack of balance. In
such cases two heads have been preferred. The body is given a uniform
double curve and the heads are turned down, as shown in Figs. 268 and
269, or one may turn up and the other down, as seen in Fig. 270. The two
headed form may also arise from imitation of plastic forms, as I have
already shown. The example given in Fig. 268 is extremely interesting on
account of its complexity and the novel treatment of the various
features. The two feet are placed close together near the middle of the
curved body, and on either side of these are the under jaws turned back
and armed with dental projections for teeth. The characteristic scale
symbols occur at intervals along the back; and very curiously at one
place, where there is scant room, simple dots are employed, showing the
identity of these two characters. Some curious auxiliary devices, the
origin of which is obscure, are used to fill in marginal spaces. The
shape given in Fig. 269 is so highly modified that it is not
recognizable as an animal form, excepting through a series of links
connecting it with more realistic delineations. It is perfectly
symmetrical and consists of a compound curve for the body, with hooks at
the extremities and two appended hooks for legs. The spots symbolizing
the scales are here placed within the body, showing another step toward
complete annihilation of the natural forms and relations. Three
additional examples, showing still higher degrees of convention, are
presented in Figs. 271, 272, and 273. The series could be filled up and
continued indefinitely, connecting the whole family of devices in which
dentals, hooks, spots, and circles occur with the alligator radical or
with other reptilian forms confused with the alligator through the
carelessness or ignorance of the decorator.
[Illustration: Fig. 271. Highly conventionalized alligator
derivative.]
[Illustration: Fig. 272. Highly conventionalized alligator
derivative.]
[Illustration: Fig. 273. Highly conventionalized alligator
derivative.]
In looking over a large series of the vases it will be seen that the
tendency of decoration is toward the zonal arrangement, the spaces being
narrow and long, even when divided into the usual number of panels. As a
consequence the motives tend to take linear forms. Parts are repeated or
greatly drawn out to fill the spaces. This phase of conventional
evolution may be illustrated by a multitude of examples.
[Illustration:
_a, b, c, d, e, f_
Fig. 274. Series of forms showing modification through use in narrow
zones.]
Beginning with an ordinary form in Fig. 274, _a_, we advance under the
restraint of parallel border lines through the series, ending in a
simple meander, _f_, the spaces about which are, however, filled out
with the conventional scale symbols, the triangles inclosing dots. Thus
we witness the transformation of the life form into a linear device, in
which the flexures of the body are emphasized and multiplied without
reference to nature, and there is little doubt that the series continues
further, ending with simple curved lines and even with straight lines
unaccompanied by auxiliary devices.
[Illustration: Fig. 275. Running ornaments composed of life
elements.]
Next to the body line the most important of the alligator derivatives is
the notched or dotted hook, which in the lost color group stands
sometimes for the whole creature, but more frequently for one or more of
the members of its body, the snout, the tail, or the feet. It is
employed singly or in various arrangements suited to the shape of the
spaces to be filled or occurs in connection with the body line or stem,
where, by systematic repetition, it serves to fill the triangular
interspaces. Take, for example, an ornament (Fig. 275) which encircles
the shoulder of a handsome vase of the lost color group. The space is
neatly filled with groupings in which the simple life coil elements are
joined one to another in such a way as to give somewhat the effect of an
ordinary running ornament. The same motive takes a different form in
Fig. 276, which is part of the decorated zone of an earthen drum (see
Fig. 235). Here the body of the creature is represented by a wide
meandered line, and to this the notched or scalloped hooks are attached
with perfect regularity, one to each angle of the meandered body. In
other examples the angular geometric character extends to every part of
the detail and the curved hooks lose their last suggestion of nature and
are entirely dropped or used separately.
[Illustration: Fig. 276. Running ornaments composed of life
motives.]
The rings, strokes, spots, and dentate figures that serve to represent
the markings and scales of the reptile are among the most important of
the derivative devices and occur in varied relations to other classes of
derivatives. They also occur independently, either singly or in
groupings. Thus we see that the alligator, in Chiriquian vase painting,
is represented by an endless list of devices, and it is interesting to
note that among these are several figures familiar to the civilized
world in both symbolism and ornament.
I present five series of figures designed to illustrate the stages
through which life forms pass in descending from the realistic to highly
specialized conventional shapes. In the first series (Fig. 277), we
begin with a meager but graphic sketch of the alligator; the second
figure is hardly less characteristic, but is much simplified; in the
third we have still three leading features of the creature: the body
line, the spots, and the stroke at the back of the head; and in the
fourth nothing remains but a compound, yoke-like curve, standing for the
body of the creature, and a single dot.
[Illustration:
_a, b, c, d_
Fig. 277. Series of derivatives of the alligator showing stages of
simplification.]
The figures of the second series (Fig. 278) are nearly all painted upon
low round nodes placed about the body of the alligator vases and hence
are inclosed in circles (see Fig. 197). The animal figure in the first
example is coiled up like a serpent, but still preserves some of the
well known characters of the alligator. In the second example we have a
double hook near the center of the space which takes the place of the
body, but the dotted triangles are placed separately against the
encircling line. In he next figure the body symbol is omitted and the
three triangles remain to represent the animal. In the fourth there are
four triangles, and the body device, being restored in red, takes the
form of a cross. In the fifth two of the inclosing triangles are omitted
and the idea is preserved by the simple dots. In the sixth the dots are
placed within the bars of the cross, the triangles becoming mere
interspaces; and in the seventh the dots form a line between the two
encircling lines. This series could be filled up by other examples,
thus showing by what infinitesimal steps the transformations take place.
The round nodes upon which these medallion-like figures are drawn are
survivals of the heads or other parts of animals originally modeled in
the round, but in the processes of manufacture partially or wholly
atrophied. It was sought to preserve the idea of the creature by the
use of painted details, but these, as we have seen, were also in time
reduced to formal marks, symbols doubtless in many cases of the
conception to which the original plastic form referred.
[Illustration: Fig. 278. Series showing stages in the simplification
of animal characters.]
[Illustration:
_a, b, c, d_
Fig. 279. The scroll and fret derived from the body line of the
alligator.]
[Illustration:
_a, b, c, d_
Fig. 280. Devices derived from drawings of parts of the life form.]
[Illustration: Fig. 281. Devices incised in a needlecase.]
[Illustration: Fig. 282. Devices representing the markings of a
reptile's body.]
The derivation of the fret and scroll--most admired of the decorative
motives of numerous races--has been a fruitful source of discussion. The
vase painting of Chiriqui serves to throw new light upon the subject. We
learn by the series of steps illustrated in the annexed cuts that the
alligator radical, under peculiar restraints and influences, assumes
conventional forms that merge imperceptibly into these classic devices.
In the third series given (Fig. 279) the first figure is far removed
from the realistic stage of representation, but it is one of the
ordinary conventional guises of the alligator. Other still more
conventional forms are seen in the three succeeding figures, the last of
which is a typical rectangular fret link known and used by most nations
of moderate culture. The derivatives in nearly all the preceding figures
can be traced back to the body of the creature as a root, but there are
many examples which seem to have come from the delineation of a part of
the creature, as the head, foot, eye, or scales--abbreviated
representatives of the whole creature. Such parts, assuming the role of
radicals, pass also through a series of modifications, ending in purely
geometric devices in the manner indicated in the following or fourth
series of examples (Fig. 280). In the first cut we have what appears to
be the leg and foot of the favorite reptile, and following this are
other forms that seem to refer to the same feature. Additional examples
are shown in Figs. 281 and 282, which, while they doubtless arose more
or less directly from the life form, are not so readily traceable
through less conventional antecedents. The first forms part of the
incised ornament of a small vase or needlecase and the second is a
section of the zonal ornament of the tripod cup illustrated in Fig. 203,
by reference to which it will be seen that the zone of devices serves to
connect the head and the tail of the reptile, which are modeled as a
part of the vase; the devices therefore represent the markings of the
creature's body, although they may originally have been derived from the
figure of the whole or a part of the animal rather than from the
markings of the skin. In other examples still more highly conventional
figures are found to hold the same relation to the plastic
representation of the extremities of the creature. They include the
meander, the scroll, the fret, and the guilloche. We find that in the
stone metates of many parts of Central America, nearly all of which are
carved to imitate the puma, the head and tail of the creature are
connected by bands of similar devices that encircle the margin of the
mealing plate (see Fig. 9). The alligator form is therefore not
necessarily the originator of all such devices. It is probable that any
animal form extensively used by such lovers of decoration as the ancient
inhabitants of Central America would be found thus interwoven with
decoration. These considerations will serve to widen our views upon the
origin and development of especial devices. As it now stands we are
absolutely certain that no race, no art, no motive or element in nature
or in art can claim the exclusive origination of any one of the well
known or standard conventional devices, and that any race, art, or
individual motive is capable of giving rise to any and to all such
devices. Nothing can be more absurd than to suppose that the
signification or symbolism attaching to a given form is uniform the
world over, as the ideas associated with each must vary with the
channels through which they were developed.
[Illustration:
_a, b, c, d, e, f, g_
Fig. 283. Conventional figures derived from the markings of the
bodies of animals.]
Other classes of geometric figures, derived chiefly from scale or skin
markings, are given in the fifth series. In more realistic phases of
representation the dentate and dotted devices are ranged along the body
of the creature, as in nature, but as convention progresses they are
used independently to fill up spaces, to form the septa of panels, &c.
Many illustrations appear in the preceding pages and additional examples
are given in Fig. 283. It is possible that these devices come from
delineations of a number of distinct animal forms; but in the higher
stages of convention confusion cannot be avoided, and must have existed
to some extent in the mind of the decorator; they serve, however, to
illustrate the stages of simplification through which all forms
extensively used for a long period must pass. The laws of derivation,
modification, and application in art are the same in all.
It has now been shown that life forms and their varied derivatives
constitute the great body of Chiriquian decorative motives; that when
first introduced the delineations are more or less realistic, according
to the skill of the artist or the demands of the art; but that in time,
by a long series of abbreviations and alterations, they descend to
simple geometric forms in which all visible connection with the
originals is lost. The agencies through which this result is
accomplished are chiefly the mechanical restraints of the art acting
independently of voluntary modification and without direct exercise of
esthetic desire.
There may be forces at work of which we find no clear indications. Some
of the conventional forms into which life forms are found to grade may
be survivals of forms originating in other regions and belonging to
other cultures which have through accidents of contact imposed
themselves upon Chiriquian art; such are the scroll, the fret, and the
guilloche; but the thorough manner in which such forms are interwoven
with purely Chiriquian conceptions makes it impossible to substantiate
such a theory. The conclusion most easily and most naturally reached is
that all are probably indigenous to Chiriqui, and hence the striking
deduction that _the processes of modification inherent in the art are of
such a nature that any animal form extensively used in decoration may
give rise to any or all of the highly conventional forms of ornament_.
During the progress of this study a question has frequently been raised
as to the extent to which the memory of the creature original or of its
symbolism in first use was kept alive in the mind of the decorator. It
is a well established fact that primitive peoples habitually invest
inanimate objects with the attributes of living creatures. Thus the
vessel, from the time it assumes individual shape and is fitted to
perform a function, is thought of as a living being, and by the addition
of plastic or painted details it becomes a particular creature, an
alligator, a fish, or a puma, each of which is in most cases the symbol
of some mythologic concept. When, through the changes of convention in
infinite repetition, all resemblance to individual creatures was lost
and mere knobs or simple geometric figures occupied the surface of the
vessel, there is little doubt that many of these features still recalled
to the mind of the potter the ultimate originals and the conceptions of
which they were the representatives, and that others represented ideas,
the outgrowth of or a development from primary ideas, while still others
had acquired entirely new ideas from without. It cannot be denied,
however, that there does come a time in the history of vase painting at
which such associated ideas become vague and are lost and elements
formerly significant are added and combinations of them are made for
embellishment alone, without reference to meaning or appropriateness;
but I am inclined to place this period a very long way from the
initiatory stages of the art. It may not be possible to find evidence of
the arrival of this period, as it is not necessarily marked by any loss
of unity or consistency--striking characteristics of ancient American
art; for such is the conservatism of indigenous methods that, unless
there be forcible intrusion of exotic art, original forms and groupings
may be perpetuated indefinitely and remain much the same in appearance
after the associated ideas are modified or lost.
[Illustration: Fig. 284. Vase with decorated zone containing
remarkable devices--1/3.]
[Illustration: Fig. 285. Series of twelve conventional devices from
the decorated zone of a vase.]
In our study of the forms and meanings of these devices it should not be
forgotten that collateral branches of art are also simultaneously
employing the same motives and reducing them through other similar
classes of conventionalizing forces to corresponding forms. Recording
arts--pictography, hieroglyphic and phonetic writing--carry life forms
through all degrees of abbreviation and change, and all ceremonial and
all domestic arts with which such forms are associated do the same; and
it is not impossible that many conventional forms found upon pottery are
borrowed outright from the other arts. It will be impossible to detect
these borrowed elements unless very literally transferred from some art
the style of which is well known. It would be comparatively easy to
identify literal borrowings from phonetic art or even from hieroglyphic
art, as the form and arrangement of the devices are quite unlike those
observed in pure decoration. We do not know that Chiriquian culture had
achieved a hieroglyphic or a phonetic system of writing, but it is worth
while to call attention to the form and the manner of employment of some
of the devices found upon the pottery. In Fig. 284 I present an outline
drawing of a vase, the shoulder of which is encircled by a broad zone of
decoration. This zone is divided into panels by oblique lines. A row of
rectangular compartments extends along the middle of the band and rows
of triangular spaces occur at the sides. Each space is occupied by a
device having one or more features suggesting a pictorial original and
doubtless derived from one. In the main row there are twelve figures, no
two of which are identical. Although we are unable to show that any of
these characters had other than a purely decorative use, we see how
richly the ancient peoples were supplied, through the conventionalizing
agencies of the art, with devices that could have been employed as
ideograms and letters where such were needed, and devices, too, that,
from their derivation and use in the art, must in most cases have had
ideas associated with them.