Page:Mexican Archæology.djvu/374

310 in the Uloa valley. The pottery of the latter district 1s distinguished by the frequency of loop-handles attached to the bodies of vases, usually two in number, but sometimes four, and always disposed symmetrically. Bowls with the peculiar flat feet characteristic of the Mexican valley (Fig. 36, 3; p. 185), and the dishes with a single expanding foot (Fig. 36, 8), so common at Sacrificios, have not yet been found in this area. Characteristic of the Quiché area are vases of coarse ware in "slipper" form, a type which is also common in Nicaragua, where it is often used as a funerary urn.

Vases painted in the early Maya style are unhappily very rare, though two magnificent vases have been discovered, one at Chama and the other at Nebaj. The design on the latter I am enabled to figure (Pl. XXIV; p-310) through the kindness of Mr. C. Fleischmann, the possessor. It is cylindrical in shape, of the best quality red ware, hard, light and well-fired, and covered with a highly burnished yellow-brown slip on which the designs are painted in red and yellow with black outlines. The scene represents a visit paid to a chief by an inferior; the former is seated on a dais, and wears a head-dress terminating in a flower from which hangs a fish, a form of ornament also observed on reliefs at Naranjo, Palenque and Chichen Itza. His visitor is offering a pouch containing copal, and the rest of the field is filled with the figures of three attendants, one of which is engaged, apparently, in pouring some liquid from a vessel over two egg-like objects on a small table. The treatment of the figures and accompanying glyphs is particularly free and bold, and the whole scene is an excellent example of Maya draughtsmanship at its best. Fragments of vases painted in similar style, though not quite so good, have been found in the same region, and also in the Uloa valley, though the specimens from the latter locality exhibit certain peculiarities of drawing which prevent them from being considered typically