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481 N o t e s o f M i d d l e A m e r i c a n A r c h a e o l o g y a n d E t h n o l o g y Carnegie Institution of Washington Division of Historical Research No. 113 June 30, 1953 A Decorated Vessel Support from Acapulco, mexico Hasso von Winning Thereliefdecorationontheexteriorwasstamped; some details remain blurred. An attempt at description is based on an analysis of the component parts and their arrangement in comparison with stylistically similar motifs on classical Teotihuacan pottery. The person, in profile with a speech scroll, wears a feather headdress attached to a row of scrolls which are reminiscent of Teotihuacan-style wave crests. Below the scroll is a disc placed rather low as if intended for an ear ornament. However, the entire composition shows considerable disregard for proportions . Beneath his elbow the figure has a double disc, which is probably the tezcacuitlapilli, an ornament known from the codices, which, although worn on the back, is frequently shown frontwise on profile representations of priests. From his forearm and hand hangs a pouch, only half of which is shown to save room for a row of rectangular objects (probably grains of seed corn falling from the extended hand). Pouch and corn grains would characterize the image as a priest associated with fertility rites. The legs are over-simplified and ostensibly shown from the front. On the left side is an ornament resembling the xicalcoliuhqui (stepped fret) or possibly the symbol of a seat or temple turned 90 degrees to the right, to make it fit. The lower part shows a geometric design arranged in a rectangle, in similar fashion as the cipactli symbols on Toltec stone sculptures. The arrangement of the different components, especially the face, bears marked resemblance to Teotihuacan style as represented on a molded design In recent years explorations in Mexico have yielded a type of vessel support previously unknown in prehispanic pottery. These supports are up to 20 cm high, plano-convex, and hollow. The flat exterior bears a stamped decoration. Although, as far as I know, no complete vase or dish has been recovered, it is generally assumed that they were tripods. Their occurrence has been noted at several points west of Acapulco (Ekholm 1948:99). The purpose of this paper is to supplement the few extant pieces with a rather elaborately decorated dish support purchased some 15 years ago at the Embarcadero in Acapulco (Fig. 113.1a, b). It is 16 cm high and 6.5 cm wide, of brown, fine paste showing specular reflection. The front has a reddish brown slip and is lightly burnished, but the convex back remains unslipped. It therefore can be grouped in Ekholm’s “Acapulco Brown” ware. There are two oval and one longitudinal vent holes in the back. The leg is hollow and does not contain pellets. Its original position on the vessel must have been slightly slanted so that the lower part projected outward. The bottom of the leg is smooth and shows almost no wear from usage. The leg belonged to a tripod dish with a 9 mm thick bottom, and flaring sides probably not more than 15 mm high. A reddish brown slip covers the interior surface of the dish. Very likely the supports were manufactured separately and attached to the dish before firing in a similar fashion to that followed in other areas where slab supports occur. hAsso Von WinninG 482 of thin orange appliqué from Ahuizotla (Fig. 113.1c) illustrated by Tozzer (1921a, Pl. 16a). In both cases, isolated stylized motifs were assembled into a compact whole without using connecting lines or links. A fragment with an identical design, probably from the same mold, is in the Stendahl collection. Of the long slab legs found by Ekholm at Tambuco, near Acapulco, one specimen has a geometric design; another is too defaced for recognition , Weitlaner (1944; 1948) discovered at Coyuca de Benitez, some 25 km northwest of Acapulco, similar hollow slab supports with stylized animal heads. One shows a human head en face with the body in profile, in a style which he compares with the “Danzantes” of Monte Alban; another has a motif of drooping eyes. At the same locality he also found one small molded vessel support with Tlaloc symbols of typical Teotihuacan III type. To date, surveys of the west coast of Mexico indicate that long hollow slab legs are...

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