Two antennæ and a double curved proboscis are indicated in all the
figures of butterflies on the vase under consideration. The zones
above and below are both cut by a "line of life," the opening through
which is situated on opposite equatorial poles in the upper and under
rim.
[Illustration: FIG. 271--Butterfly design on upper surface of plate
CXXXV, _b_]
The rectangular figures associated with the butterflies on this
elaborately decorated vase are of two patterns alternating with each
other. The rectangles forming one of these patterns incloses three
vertical feathers, with a triangle on the right side and a crook on
the left. The remaining three rectangles also have three feathers, but
they are arranged longitudinally on the surface of the vase.
The elaborate decoration of the zone outside the six butterflies is
made up of feathers arranged in three clusters of three each,
alternating with key patterns, crosshatched crooks, triangles, and
frets. The wealth of ornament on this part of the vase is noteworthy,
and its interpretation very baffling. This vase may well be considered
the most elaborately decorated in the whole collection from Sikyatki.
There are several figures of butterflies, like those shown in plate
CXXXI, _a_, in which the modifications of wings and body have
proceeded still further, and the only features which refer them to
insects are the jointed antennæ. The passage from this highly
conventionalized design into a triangular figure is not very great.
There are still others where the head, with attached appendages,
arises not from an angle of a triangle, but from the middle of one
side. This gives us a very common form of butterfly symbol, which is
found, variously modified, on many ancient vessels. In such designs
there is commonly a row of dots on each side, which may be represented
by a sinuous line, a series of triangles, bars, or parallel bars.
The design reproduced in plate CXXXIV, _d_, represents a moth or
butterfly associated with a flower, and several star symbols. It is
evidently similar to that figured in _a_ of the same plate, and has
representations of antennæ and extended proboscis, the latter organ
placed as if extracting honey from the flower. The conventional flower
is likewise shown in _e_ of this plate. The two crescentic designs in
plate CXXXV, _a_, are regarded as butterflies.
The jar illustrated in plate CXLV, _b_, is ornamented with highly
conventionalized figures on four sides, and is the only one taken from
the Sikyatki cemeteries in which the designs are limited to the
equatorial surface. The most striking figure, which is likewise found
on the base of the paint saucer shown in plate CXLVI, _f_, is a
diamond-shape design with a triangle at each corner (figure 276). The
pictures drawn on alternating quadrants have very different forms,
which are difficult to classify, and I have therefore provisionally
associated this beautiful vessel with those bearing the butterfly and
the triangle. The form of this vessel closely approaches that of the
graceful cooking pots made of coiled and coarse indented ware, but the
vessel was evidently not used for cooking purposes, as it bears no
marks of soot.[140]