Description:

Pre-Columbian, Central America, El Salvador, Maya, Copador type, Late Classic Period, ca. 550 to 900 CE. A masterfully painted Copador bowl from the Maya world, this ceramic vessel brims with visual storytelling, its surfaces alive with courtly symbolism and ceremonial flourish. The form itself is sculpturally expressive: flaring walls rise elegantly from a sharply carinated shoulder, giving way to a gently rounded base incised with deep diagonal ridges, evoking the lobed surface of a squash or gourd. This vegetal reference, rooted in Mesoamerican agricultural cycles, lends the vessel an added layer of cosmological symbolism. On the interior, five turkeys stride in a circular rhythm around a central glyphic medallion, their feathered bodies marked by curved beaks, dotted crests, and fanned tails. Rendered in shades of red and black over a warm orange slip, they appear animated mid-strut - creatures of the earth perhaps elevated to ritual participants or cosmic avatars. Size: 8.1" Diameter x 3.1" H (20.6 cm x 7.9 cm)

Along the vessel's exterior unfolds a vivid procession of six scribes, each bent in seated or crouching pose, adorned with patterned headdresses and expressive gestures. Some hold folded codices or scribal tools, others seem engaged in animated exchange. Between and around them twist looping glyphs and stylized motifs, the painted band a visual script of knowledge and ceremony. These figures likely represent members of the courtly elite, their inclusion signaling the high status and intellectual prestige surrounding this object.

Copador ware is associated with elite Maya communities in the southeastern zone, particularly along the frontier with Honduras, and is known for its rich iconography and distinct polychrome style. Here, the imagery of scribes and turkeys may allude to themes of abundance, offering, ritual performance, and the continuity of sacred knowledge. Elegant in form and rich in meaning, this bowl is more than a utilitarian object - it is a visual text, a ceremonial device, and a poetic testament to the Maya world’s union of form, function, and symbolic depth.

Provenance: Collection of Y. Kayvan, Los Angeles, California, USA, acquired from a Los Angeles, California, USA gallery acquisition dates range from the late 1990s to 2005

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#194288

  • Condition: Chip to rim and shoulder edge. Light surface wear commensurate with age, but otherwise intact and excellent with good remaining pigments. Nice manganese deposits to surface.

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June 13, 2025 8:00 AM MDT
Louisville, CO, US

Artemis Fine Arts

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Bid Increments
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$300 $999 $50
$1,000 $1,999 $100
$2,000 $4,999 $250
$5,000 $9,999 $500
$10,000 $19,999 $1,000
$20,000 $49,999 $2,500
$50,000 $99,999 $5,000
$100,000 $199,999 $10,000
$200,000 + $20,000