Lot 158
Pre-Columbian, Panama, Cocle, Macaracas style, ca. 600 to 900 CE. A rare and brilliant example from the Gran Cocle Pre-Columbian kingdom of Central America! This shallow bowl or dish with a small ring base depicts a lizard-like saurian figure painted in the phantasmic style that was the penchant of artists of the Cocle region in brilliant red, black, and purple hues against a cream ground. The introduction of purple to the artist's palette of red, black, and cream attributes it to the Conte/Macaracas style of pottery - and the emphasis on dynamism and motion is a hallmark of the Macaracas style. Truly a masterwork of ancient ceramics! Size: 9.75" in diameter (24.8 cm); 12.5" H (31.8 cm) on included custom stand.
According to scholar Samuel Kirkland Lothrop, "The Gran Cocle culture is a Pre-Columbian archaeological culture that gets its name from the area from which it was based, the now present-day Cocle province of Panama. The Gran Cocle term applies to a loosely studied group of Native American sub-cultures in this region, identified by their pottery styles. The overall period spans a time from 150 B.C. to the end in the 16th century A.D. upon Spanish contact. The most ancient culture is the La Mula period from 150 B.C. to 300 A.D. The La Mula and later Monagrillo and Tonosí pottery styles are identified by their the use of three paint colors which were black, red and white (or cream). The later Cubitá style saw the emergence of the use of four colors. The styles of Conte, Macaracas and Joaquín added purple to their palette and this hue ranged from grayish tones to red purple. The use of purple disappeared in the subsequent styles of Parita and El Altillo and the paint style reverted back to the use of three colors. Most notable in the artistic renderings are the overt use of geometric designs." (For more information, see Armand Labbe, "Guardians of The Life Stream: Shamans, Art and Power in Prehispanic Central Panama" - Bowers Museum of Cultural Art, University of Washington Press, 1995.)
Provenance: ex-private Texas, USA collection, acquired at Heritage Auctions, Dallas, Texas
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#137106
- Condition: Areas of cracquelure to the pigmentation commensurate with age. Scattered manganese deposits. There are a few stabilized cracks from the rim to middle of wall with radiating fissures as shown, possibly indicative of repair, but very well done if so.
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