Part 2 (1/2)

Fig. 369 ill.u.s.trates a minute cup rudely made of coa.r.s.e clay. The outline is oval and slightly pointed at one end, as if intended for pouring liquids.

In Fig. 370 we have another small vessel of rude finish with two pointed lips. A much larger vessel of similar shape may be seen in the Davenport collection. The projecting pointed lip is rarely found in aboriginal pottery, although I see no reason why such a feature may not readily have been suggested to the savage by the prolonged margins of his vessels of sh.e.l.l.

Rectangular vessels are of the rude sh.e.l.l-tempered ware, and, although rare, are widely distributed.

Fig. 371 ill.u.s.trates a specimen from Pecan Point, Arkansas. The surface is rudely finished and without polish. The color is a dark gray, much flecked with large particles of white sh.e.l.l. Another example has a square rim but a rounded bottom, and is covered with a coat or slip of dark red clay.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 371.--Rectangular bowl: Pecan Point, Arkansas.--1/3.]

A small vessel from the same region as the preceding has the rim pressed in on the four sides, leaving sharp, projecting corners.

One of the most notable vessels in the collection is ill.u.s.trated in Fig. 372. It is a heavy casket consisting of two parts, body and lid, and is made as usual of clay and coa.r.s.ely pulverized sh.e.l.l. It is brownish gray in color and bears some marks of the baking. It was obtained by Captain W. P. Hall from a low mound at Hale's Point, Tennessee, and is described by Mr. W. H. Pratt, in the following language: ”It is of rude, irregular, quadrangular form, made in two parts. The lower, or case proper, is 12 inches long, 7 inches wide, and 5 inches deep, inside measure, the upper edge being slightly bent inward all around. The upper part or lid is of similar form and dimensions, being very slightly larger, so as to close down over the other part, about one and a half inches, and is somewhat more shallow.

As the lid does not fit very perfectly, the joint around the edge had been plastered up with clay. When found, it contained the remains of a very small child reduced to dust, except that some of the bones of the skull, jaws, and limbs retained their form, crumbling rapidly, however, upon removal and exposure to the air. There were also found two or three dozen small sh.e.l.l beads. Excepting the remains described, the case was entirely empty. The case weighs six and a quarter, and the lid just six pounds.” This is one of the very few vessels that would seem to have been constructed especially for mortuary purposes.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 372.--Burial casket: Hale's Point, Tennessee.--1/4.]

I wish to add to the list of eccentric forms a singular example from the collection of J. R. Thibault, of Little Rock, Arkansas. As shown in Fig. 373 it is an oblong, trough-like vessel with flat projecting wings at the ends. It is extremely well-finished, with thin walls, symmetrical form, and high polish. The color is quite dark and the material is as usual. The engraved design consists of incised lines, which form a number of rectangular compartments extending around the exterior surface of the body. The wings are perforated. The form of this vessel suggests the wooden trays of some modern tribes. A similar example, which is ill.u.s.trated in the Third Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology, is of much inferior interest, being plain and rude.

_Life forms._--A very large percentage of the bowls of this district are modified in such a way as to resemble, more or less closely, the form of some living creature--bird, beast, or reptile. Especial attention has been given to the heads. These are modeled in the round and attached to the rim or side, while other parts of the animal appear upon different portions of the vessel.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 373.--Trough-shaped vessel: Arkansas.--1/3.

[_National Museum._]]

It will be difficult to determine the origin of this curious practice.

We shall not be able to say that it came from the elaboration of handles, simply to please fancy, for the reason that vessels of this cla.s.s are rarely known to have had simple handles; nor from the modification of simple ornaments, as such were but little used. It is still less probable that animal forms were first modeled independently, and afterwards changed in such a way as to serve as vessels. There are no examples of animal forms in clay independent of vessels. It would not be consistent with primitive methods of procedure to copy nature direct, at least until some mystic significance had become attached to the form employed. It is possible, however, that the origin of this practice is not to be found within the plastic art itself, but in the shapes of antecedent and co-existent vessels of other materials in which life forms had been employed; or in the use of natural objects themselves as utensils, the original forms not having been lost sight of and having in time suggested the employment of other natural forms. Examples of the latter cla.s.s may be cited.

Sh.e.l.ls were primitive vessels. The hard cases of seeds and fruits were also much used. These were doubtless antecedent to vessels of clay.

They were the natural models for the potter, the carver in wood or stone, and their employment as such served to lead up gradually to a more realistic and general use of natural shapes in works of art to which they were not essential features. The importance of the various animal forms was increased by their a.s.sociation with religious ideas.

Nearly all the vessels of this cla.s.s presented in the following ill.u.s.trations come from the vicinity of Pecan Point, Arkansas.

Clay vessels imitating both marine and fresh-water sh.e.l.ls are occasionally obtained from the mounds and graves of the Mississippi Valley. The conch sh.e.l.l appears to have been a favorite model, especially in its modified form, Fig. 374, _a_ and _b_. The clam sh.e.l.l is also imitated in _c_ and _d_. The more conventional forms of these vessels are exceedingly interesting, as they point out the tendencies and possibilities of modification. An instructive example ill.u.s.trated in _e_ has four groups of nodes, each, consisting of a large central node with four or five smaller ones, surrounding it, set about the rim, the conception being that of four sh.e.l.ls joined in one vessel, with the noded apexes turned outward and the bases inward.

A still more highly conventionalized form is shown in _f_. The cup is unsymmetrical in outline, and has a few imperfect nodes near one corner, but its resemblance to a sh.e.l.l would hardly be recognized by one unacquainted with more realistic renderings of like subjects. In _g_ we have an imitation of a sh.e.l.l cup placed within a plain cup.

[Ill.u.s.trations: FIG. 374.--Clay vessels imitating sh.e.l.ls.]

A very good ill.u.s.tration of this cla.s.s of vessel is given in Fig. 375.

It is evidently intended to imitate a trimmed conch sh.e.l.l. The apex and a few of the surrounding nodes are shown at the right, while the base or spine forms a projecting lip at the left. A coil of clay forms the apex. This is carried outward in a sinistral spiral to the noded shoulder. We have here a suggestion of the origin of a favorite decorative motive, the scroll, a clew, however, which the paucity of examples makes it difficult to follow up satisfactorily.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 375.--Bowl imitating a modified conch sh.e.l.l.--1/3.]

Although we may not be able to arrive at any definite conclusion in regard to the origin and significance of the practice of modeling life forms in clay, we are certain of one thing, that it became an important feature in the potter's art, and that in due course of time the practice broke loose from the restraints of birth and tradition and a.s.serted its freedom in the production of any form that superst.i.tion or fancy happened to select.

The artist probably did not follow nature with great accuracy in all the details of species and varieties, but some definite model must have been in view, in nearly all cases, and such characters as came to be regarded as essential to that creature were never lost sight of, consistency being a most notable characteristic of the art of a savage or barbaric people.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 376.--Frog-shaped bowl: Craigshead Point, Arkansas.--1/3.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 377.--Frog-shaped bowl: Pecan Point, Arkansas.--1/3.]