A figure on a bowl here represented (pl. 6, fig. 1) is painted in
“black or brown on a background of bluish wash over a yellow color.”
This bowl is eleven inches in diameter, five inches in depth. The
figure is a remarkable one, having features of several animals, but
none of these are more pronounced than its insectiform characters,
among which may be mentioned the antennæ, three legs on one side
(evidently three pairs of legs, for that in the back is simply
introduced in violation of perspective), and an extended segmented
abdomen attached to the thorax and terminating in a recurved tip. The
character of the appendages to the thorax, or the wings, leaves no
doubt that a flying animal was intended, and the legs and head being
like an orthopterous insect, it may be provisionally identified as a
“grasshopper.”[44]
While the general form of head, thorax, and body appear from an
inspection of the figure, it may be well to call attention to certain
special features that illustrate primitive methods of drawing. The
most striking of these is seen in the abnormal position of the leg
which arises from the thorax on the back in the rear of the so-called
wings. This abnormal position was introduced by the artist to show
the existence and form of the legs on the right side; the appendage
corresponds with one of the three on the left side, which have the
proper position but are much smaller. A similar delineation of organs
out of place not seen or turned away from the observer was common among
the prehistoric artists of the Pueblo region and is paralleled by the
representation of two eyes on one side of the head already mentioned.
The two “wings,” each ending in white circles with dots or crosses, are
supposed, on the theory that this is a grasshopper, to represent wing
covers or elytra, which of course the prehistoric people of the Mimbres
did not differentiate from folded wings. It is possible that wing cover
and wing may be represented on one side and that corresponding organs
on the right side of the body are omitted. The thorax is covered with
regularly arranged rows of dots formed by parallel lines crossing at an
angle, forming purely arbitrary decoration representing the geometric
designs on the bodies of other animals.