A rare bronze vessel with typical rebus-like motifs all over it is loaded with a symbolism that we may never be able to decipher. Early India too is impenetrable. Cut-out copper objects stylized into virtual abstraction have come to light along the upper Ganges. B.C. Martin's example is one of the largest in existence. Textile fibers incorporated in the grainy oxidized layer tell us that it was wrapped before being buried, but to draw from that observation the conclusion that it is ''a ritual object'' is like deducing the shepherd's age from the color of his flock's wool.
More recent cultures can raise as many questions.
Martin's terra-cotta face is among the most beautiful ever and may have been one of the very first to be shown to Westerners, in 1896. Early black Africa has left no written documents outside the Sudan. Not that inscriptions necessarily help. The Indian culture from Bolivia and Peru in the Huari area has so far eluded efforts at truly deciphering its symbols, carved in low relief at Tihuanaco, the great Bolivian site. Martin bought, a long time ago, a tunic woven between A.D. 500 and 800 with motifs related to those of the bas reliefs.