A PREHISTORIC AMERICAN POTTERY HEADAuthor(s): H. M. W.Source: Bulletin of the City Art Museum of St. Louis, Vol. 2, No. 4 (December, 1916), pp. 7-8Published by: St. Louis Art MuseumStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/40714064 .

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Bulletin of the City Art Museum of St. Louis

as in greens and blues of different shades. In the central stripe of the border, separated from the field by a narrow stripe of cream white, is a ground of green with the soft tint of moss - the sacred green of the Mo- hammedan pilgrims. The scroll-like vine resting on it is enriched with daintily colored flowers, while the pendant medallions are resplendent with tints of pink, of yellow, and of ivory, contrasting with burnt sienna, deep red, and old gold. Moreover, some dyes seem to have made the yarn less susceptible to the influences of the atmosphere than others, so that alter- nating medallions stand out as if em- bossed.

Here and there, in flower and vine, are bits of color like jewels, and so minute as to have required a won- derful patience in the weaver. A guarded monument, it has suffered almost inappreciably from the wear of time.

A PREHISTORIC AMERICAN POTTERY HEAD

St. Louis Society of the Archaeological Institute of Amer-

ica adds to the permanent exhibit of Egyptian and Greek antiquities and aboriginal handicraft in the Museum a loan collection belonging to the field of American archaeology. It includes material from Central America and the southwestern section of the United States. The main feature of the ex- hibit has been drawn from large pri- vate collections in St. Louis, the vicin- ity of the city being very rich in the work of the pre-Columbian Indian. It is not the intention to cover the entire range of his activity, and only choice specimens are placed on view.

Pottery making is the most express- ive art of aboriginal man remaining to us. Following upon the use of shells and gourds as receptacles for liquids and food, clay vessels were made by the American Indian, at first deriving

their shape from those prototypes. While the pottery of some Indian tribes met only the most needful re- quirements in this way, examples from other tribes show the development of a more elaborate type. The human figure, incised, in relief, or in the round, was often used for decoration. Small heads, used as knobs or handles on the rims of vessels, were particu- larly frequent in the Mississippi Val- ley. Here, also, we find heads of clay, without retaining the conventional vessel form. An early stage in this development is shown in vases with one or two human faces.

POTTERY HEAD PREHISTORIC

LENT BY DR. H. M. WHELPLEY

The accompanying illustration shows a good example of the "head pots," as they are generally called. The larger ones are nearly life size, and give evidence of some of the fashions and cosmetic customs of the period. The ears on these vessels are invari- ably pierced with several perforations for the introduction of ornaments, a custom that has come down to our own times and may be observed among the older Indians now living. The septum of the nose is also pierced, presumably for a nose ring. The

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Bulletin of the City Art Museum of St. Louis

HEAD OF ROMA ABOUT 175-2OO B. C. DIOSCURI 1 74 B. C.

FROM THE COLLECTION OF MR. E. F. JACKSON

projection above the forehead usually contains a hole which was more likely used to suspend an ornament than for the purpose of hanging up the pottery head, as has been sug- gested. The back of the head indi- cates a common type of hair dressing, as all of the heads are quite similar in this respect. The cosmetic effect of paint on the face varies from the application of a single color over the entire surface to designs in color. Some of the faces are incised in a manner resembling tattooing. The facial expressions are so individual that it has been suggested that these heads may be portraits. The highest type is found in those without the suggestion of a rim base or of a bottle neck. The exhibit contains ñve heads of this rare arid interesting class.

H. M. W.

AN EXHIBIT OF ROMAN COINS

(LENT BY MEMBERS OF THE ST. LOUIS NUMIS- MATIC SOCIETY)

aim of this exhibit is to show the evolution of the Roman coin-

age from its beginning in central Italy

in the sixth or seventh century B. C. to the fall of the East Roman Empire in A. D. 1453, a period of approxi- mately two thousand years. This is by far the largest numismatic epoch known in history ; it may conveniently be subdivided into four periods. The first ends in 268 B. C. ; the coinage of this period consists entirely of cast pieces of bronze. It is evident that during this period Rome had neither foreign commerce nor foreign wars, for neither could be carried on with currency, of which the standard coin weighed a pound and was worth about two cents.

The second period begins in 268 B. C, when silver was first minted in Rome, and the copper coins, much reduced in size, were struck - not cast ; this period terminated in 27 B. C, when Octavian received the title of Augustus and the Imperial series of coins begins. The third period ex- tends to the end of the West Roman Empire in 476 A. D. The fourth and last period begins when the capital of the Empire was transferred to Con- stantinople, in 330 A. D., and ends

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