, 1910-02-19
PERUVIAN ANTIQUITIES.

hcence Of a City merchant, the nation is
about to become the possessor of a collec-
ton OF rare and valuable prehistoric an
tlqultles from Peru. The donor is q mem
Der OF the National Collections Fund,
and has made the gift through that body.
In spite OF the picturesque terms in which
these ancient vases have been described in
some of the illustrated papers, and the very
liberal estimate of 1000 years as their age,
there eau be no doubt of the Importance Of
the find. As . whole, they surpass in quality
thesconteDts Of any previously discovered
cemetery, and some of the indiyidual pieces
can claim high rank from the artistic stand
point. The majority Of them are water
bottles Of q form characteristic of ancient
Peru, a more or less rounded body, while
the neck, an arched tube with a vertical
m0uthpieGe, serves also as a handle In
addition to these the collection comprises
also hunting or signal horns, bowls and
other forms. From the admirable state
of preservation IN which thew still are, it
would seem that the whole of these a]oieces
had never been IN actual use, but were
either expressly made as funeral furniture,
or at any rate deposited in the grave when
new. The selection Of $50 made for the
British Museum includes oil the types found
in the collection, and in addition a number
OF unique pieces.
This very handsome gift is not only Of
value to the national collection in itself, but
it may serve to call attention to some of the
other treasures Of the same kind that the
Museum already possesses. What can be
more remarkable than to find in the British
Museum Il large proportion of the turquoise
coated masks obtained by Cortes from Mon
tezuma and sent to Charles v. ? And yet
they have stood there for years, brilliantly
coloured, if grim, reminders Of one of the
most picturesque and tragic episodes that
the world has ever seen. Near by are Mr..
Edward Whymper's collections from Ecua-
dor, gathered while on his mountaineering
expeditions in the Andes. The collections
from Peru itself also contain q number of
pieces of unusual merit, and the best Of
them can compete with those in Mr.. Van
den Bergh's gift. This last addition will,
however, make the series finer as a whole
thau is to be found in any other collection.
1t is stated that the cemetery in which
these vases were found was discovered in
searching for the buried treasure Of the
Iucas. Further, that above the stratum in
which these vases lay was another, in which
were found graves OF the Incas. 1T was pre-
sumed, not unnaturally, that the graves Of
'LS IONGt Idg0I were OII6E Luau JuOS3 ABOVE
them, and this presumption was borne
out by the fact that whereas the human
bones, the woven stuffa, and even the metal
tools in the upper or Inca stratum were in
fairly good condition, those below were in
s tch a state Of decay as to make it impossi-
bic to remove any of them. On these facts
were doubtless founded both the somewhat
predetermined estimate of the age of the low
er series OF graves and their attribution to
the rather shadowy Chimu civilization. How
ever this may be, there eau be no question
that the people who made these vases,
whether Chimu or Inca, were artists and
craftsmen of uncommon skill. It is hardly
necessary to say that they were uuacquaint-
cd with the potter's wheel, and that the ad-
mirably symmetrical finish that is character
istic of some of them is the product of the
unaided eye and hand. Many, however, do
not aim at symmetry, but represent human
heads or figures, in a great number of in
stances unQuestionably portraits, and it may
well be of the individuals whose graves they
furnished. Some are g~rotesque and fanciful
IN treatment, but others are as grave and
dignifed, and, within their limitations of
material, as we'll done as the portrait of a
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