. The history of mankind . occur in greatnumber. These images were also usedfor secular purposes. May not the Kiokoclubs, carved with human heads, havebeen originally idols, carried in the handinstead of being stuck in the ground ?What we regard as the work of a sportivewhim, those gnarled birch-roots often ofvery curious forms, which the Chinese convert into human figures with one ortwo cuts and dots, carry us back to the widespread tendency to see in suchfreaks of Nature more than chance, something indeed which may be of mysteriousservice in magic or medicine. In art we find once more the bi
. The history of mankind . occur in greatnumber. These images were also usedfor secular purposes. May not the Kiokoclubs, carved with human heads, havebeen originally idols, carried in the handinstead of being stuck in the ground ?What we regard as the work of a sportivewhim, those gnarled birch-roots often ofvery curious forms, which the Chinese convert into human figures with one ortwo cuts and dots, carry us back to the widespread tendency to see in suchfreaks of Nature more than chance, something indeed which may be of mysteriousservice in magic or medicine. In art we find once more the bias of religion towards universal element at the base of all primitive art is the close alliance of men andanimals in the ornament. This corresponds to the religious view which dreads orreveres a human soul in ever) beast. Accordingly in the richest store ofconventional sculpture which we possess, that of the ancient Americans, humanfaces and figures, most frequently eyes, occur in the greatest abundance. Next. Carved clubs from Lunda. (Büchner collectionthe Munich Ethnographical Museum.) SCIENCE AND ART 73 to them come animal figures, feathers, ribbons ; parts of plants very Reiss draws special attention to a Peruvian robe of state exhibited some yearsago in Madrid, for the very reason that its ornament, contrary to the usual rule, istaken from plant forms. Feathers, tortoises, lizards, crocodiles, frogs, snakes arerepresented with remarkable fidelity. The sun-bird with outspread wings is afavourite symbol and theme for ornament from Egypt toJapan and Peru ; the portal of Ocosingo shows a typicaldevelopment of it. Grotesques of men and beasts, dis-torted and involved out of all knowledge, such as eventhe Maya writing displays, are often drawn with greatskill and boldness of caricature. The often-quoted ele-phants trunks on monuments at Uxmal, and on goldenfigures of men, may be explained either by the tapirssnout, or a comic elongation of the human featu
Size: 1091px × 2290px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectethnology, bookyear18
