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Show I i lRO ART OF AMERICAN NATIONS. tant for the philosopher and tho historian of human civilization, has noiLhcr the charms and beauty of the ru~co-Roman period, nor the historical interest of Egyptian, Assyrian, or early Christian art. The Rod nations, of whose works we speak, arc strangers to us; their civilization remained entirely unconnected with our history; and was too diflct·ont from, and too inferior to, the development of tho Japctidos, Sh mites, and Turanians. Evon Chinese art bas a greater chance of becoming tho object of study, than t1to monuments of the mound-builders, of the Toltocs and Aztecs of Mexico and Con Lral America, and of the Quichuas and Aymaras of Peru and tho Lake of Titicaca. China is still a mighty empire; its civilization, however strange, cannot bo ignored by us; and the monuments of Cllincso art may facilitate a correct appreciation of the institutions, the religion and morals, of more than throe hundred millions of mon,-with whom, at tho same time, traffic is profitable. American art, on the other hand, is in no way linked to tho present ago. 'l'ho refined amateur is ropollecl by the homeliness of most of tho artistical relics, which the hisLorian is, as yet, unable to coun ect with certain datos and personages. This is the reason why but very few persons care for Mexican, Central American, and Peruvian antiquity; and how it comes to pass, that among all the public Museums of Europe there arc but two, tho Louvre at I aris,101 and tho British Museum in London, which systematically admit American monuments into their treasuries of art. Of private collections I know but four: tho Central American antiquities at tho country-scat of the late Mr. Freudenthal, in Moravia (Austria), who fell a victim to his zeal in searching for antiquities in tho tropical climate of Guatemala and died soon after his return to Vienna; tho extensive collootio~ of Mr. Uhdo at IIandschuhsheim, ncar IJcidelborg (Grand duchy Baden) .; and tho two Mexican and Peruvian cabinets of MM. Jomard and Allier at Paris. M. Adrion de LonO'p6ricr publisl1cd in 1852, a Notice of tho monuments exhibited in the American IIali of tho Louvre, from which we soc that it contai11s: I.-680 relics of Moxiean art, consisting of mytholoo-ical statuettes vases, gems, seals, utm1sils, instruments of music wei'o-hts and mea~ . 1 . ' b sm·os m vo came stone, granite, basalt terra-cotta bronze crystal obsidian, jad , jasper, and wood. ' ' ' ' II. -A few fragments from Palonque. Ill.- About throe hundred statuettes and vases, implements and 1~ Tho Louvre hn~, within the last few yearB, acquired the Mexican Antiquities of M. ~a tour Allard, P~bhshed in J,ord Kiogaborough's great work; received as gifts the equally Important Peruvmn antiquities of Mons. Augrn.nd, together with tho smaller collections of Mos~rs. Massiou de Cltlirvul, Audifrod, V. Schoolohet·, 11nd several othe1· gentlemen. ART 0~' AMERICAN NATIONS. 181 woollen fabrics of Peru, from Cuzco, Lambazcqu6, Qui.Loa, Bod6gon, Arica and Truxillo. IV.-Some twenty artistical objects from the Antilles and IIayti. Tho collections of tho British Mnscum have not yet b en described and pL1blisl10d. l!udcllod together as th y arc, in one of Lh smaller rooms, with IIindoo, Burmese, Japanese, and 'hi n s idols, and with the implements and cnriositi s of tho Souti1-Sca isles, they fail to attract the attention of tho visitors. 'l'h Mexican Cabinet consisting principally in poLtcry, or in statuettes m1d r 1icis iu t rra cotta, is one of tho most ext naive, and shows il1at Lhc LntdiLions of Aztec art long survived the conquest by ;orLcz; inco w find a Spanish Viceroy moulded in clay by a native arLi. t, who did not fail to distort the features of this Span ish hidalg into tho typical Mexican forms, no less than to give him th ir Am rican cast of skull, and of the check-bones! The Peruvian antiquiLios at·o likewise oxelusively of baked clay; some of them gems of native art. Tho Mnsoum might easily enrich its American treasures; fo1·, as I lcamed from tho most reliable sources, many P ru vi an gold and silver idols find their way into tho Bank of ]~no-land and the Royal Mint, where they are molted down; since they lltwo no artisLic, if groat archroologioal, and still greater, it would seem, moncLary value. Many American AnLiquities were published in tho ext naive, and more or less costly woL"ks, of KingsborouO'h, IInmboltlt, Lenoir, Warden, Tschudi, Rivero, Waldeck, Catherwood, d'01·bigny, t pbons, Norman, Drantz Mayor, BarLlctt, and Squier; bnt, failinrr to interest tl1e public in the same way as Asiatic and European antiquiLios, they remained unknown beyond the circle of some ethnological scholars, so that few persons arc aware of tho extent anJ. tho artistical importance of tho Monum nts of Amori ·a. W c l1avo, in the following w od-cuts, sel ctcd tho most cbaractcrisLic and best sculptur d specimens of the ante-Columbian art of tho now world, in hope that they may become the means of exciLing a groat r interest ii)r them on both sides of tho Atlantic. As it is tho object of illustrations to instruct by view, as well, and often mol'o than by explication, we add but few words to them. The groat m~ority of the ancient monumcn ts of America will forever remain unconnected with bistory,105-mystcrious 1' lies of a civi- 105 [I perceive thn.t n.n n.nonymou~ "vin.tor" advertises in the .Na!io•wl .lnteUigencer (WitShington, D. C., 18th October·, 1856), n. forthcoming volume, wherein "more thn.n twenty gentlemen, embrn.cing the bench, tho bn.r, tho clergy, n.nd members of tho medical profession, lHwe como forward "-all in Western Virginia, too-11nd aro n.olur\lly going to vouch for tho in<.lubitnble n.nthontioity of that "oann.r<.l" -so fnmous, among nrchroologists, as Mr. Schoolcraft's Ohio pebble, ongrnved in 22 different n.lpbn.bcts at "Omvo Crook flat!" To facilit~ttc its rouppenranoe in good society, no loss than to inc1·oosc tho receipts of |