Art: The art of paper, from sculpture to clothes

The beakers, which for the most part are straight-sided cylinders, were excavated early in the 20th century by Penn archaeologist Robert Burkitt, who also recovered many of the other objects on view.

For this exhibition, museum conservator Lynn Grant disassembled the reconstructed pots and restored them using more modern methods and materials.

The scenes on the cylinders also have been reinterpreted in the light of recent field research. Exhibition curator Elin C. Danien believes that the images reflect a sudden introduction of ideas and people from the Maya lowlands into the highland area where the pots were found.

For instance, the best-preserved cylinder is believed to depict the impending death of a local lord who defied a group of newcomers from a lowland city, some of whom observe his humiliation. Because of fragmentation and color fading, other cylinders aren't as easy to read.

Fortunately, a set of remarkable watercolors painted years ago by a museum artist, M. Louise Baker, makes the task easier. The paintings are called "rollouts" because they translate the continuous, in-the-round imagery into a flat sequence.

Baker recorded the vessel narratives with exceptional crispness, detail and fidelity. Unfortunately, no originals are on view, but some paintings are incorporated into text panels as reproductions.

The watercolors are too fragile to be exhibited for an extended period. The museum plans to conserve them, and might exhibit them once that is accomplished.

Visitors interested in the pots as ceramics more than as historical artifacts might be disappointed by the lack of technical information concerning type of clay, how the pots were formed and fired, and what types of pigments were used.

But then, "Painted Metaphors" is primarily an ethnographic show, and in such situations art often is subordinated to science.

Art: Paper and Pots

"Pulp Function" continues at the James A. Michener Art Museum, 138 S. Pine St., Doylestown, through June 28. Hours are 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays, 10 to 5 Saturdays and noon to 5 Sundays. Admission is $6.50 general, $6 for seniors, and $4 for students and visitors 6 to 18. Information 215-340-9800 or www.michenerartmuseum.org.

"Painted Metaphors" continues at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, 3260 South St., through December. Hours are 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays and 1 to 5 p.m. Sundays. Admission is $10 general, $7 for visitors 65 and older, and $6 for visitors 6 through 17 and students with ID. Information 215-898-4000 or www.museum.upenn.edu

com/edwardsozanski.