Page:Mexican Archæology.djvu/236

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186
MEXICAN ARCHÆOLOGY

to the utilitarian process of scoring the bottoms of bowls for use as graters in the preparation of peppersauce (chilmolli)) and applied ornament is practically non-existent. Miniature tripod bowls with smooth bottoms are found, used to support the revolving spindle in the operation of spinning, and incense-spoons were also manufactured in this ware. The second main type consists chiefly of hour-glass shaped standing cups, of reddish, softer paste, with thicker walls coated with a burnished red slip and painted with black and white linear designs also in slip (Fig. 36, 2).

Fig. 37.—Designs from Mexican pottery; late valley type.

Less common are bowls of greyish paste with burnished red and yellow slip coating, on which are well-drawn curvilinear patterns in black, or bowls of grey ware with a very highly burnished yellow slip with a matt design in slip of similar colour. Characteristic, too, of this district are two-handled censers, heavy and solid in construction, of grey clay with a black burnished surface, or of reddish clay with a burnished red slip (Fig. 36, 1). Besides vessels, pottery figurines are found in great numbers, in the form of various gods, warriors, miniature temples, and so forth (Pl. IX, 2-6). These are in a hard red ware or a very soft pale cream clay; some are solid, while others are hollow and form rattles or whistles; most of these figurines