Lot 64A
Pre-Columbian, Mesoamerica, El Salvador, Maya, Copan (Copador), Late Classic, ca. 650 to 850 CE. A luminous globular jar with short neck and everted rim, its cream slip expertly burnished and painted in rich iron-red and carbon black to create four narrative registers that encircle the vessel like a codical frieze. The upper pair comprises glyphs and pseudoglyphs, the second band distinguished by a square lattice cartouche punctuated with a circle in each corner, an elegant visual play that alludes to text while not necessarily recording language. Below, a dynamic procession of four swimmers - elongated bodies and splayed limbs slicing through a red ground - evokes mythic passages through water or the underworld, themes celebrated in Late Classic courtly art. The lowest register presents four seated scribes, likely with brush bundles and ink receptacles, underscoring literate elite identity and the prestige of cacao-fueled performance and recitation for which Copador polychromes were likely used. Size: 6.5" Diameter x 5" H (16.5 cm x 12.7 cm)
Constructed in fine earthenware, slipped inside and out, and delineated by carefully ruled red divider lines, this jar exemplifies the southeastern Copan and Ulua Valley tradition whose polychromes are prized for crisp draftsmanship and narrative ambition; compare related Copador vessels in LACMA, The Met, and the Museo Popol Vuh. Functionally a serving or presentation jar, perhaps for cacao or fermented beverages, it also operated as a visual text where true glyphs and pseudoglyphs collaborated to proclaim status and mythic knowledge.
Provenance: private collection of S. Saunders, Nogales Arizona, USA collection
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#201762
- Condition: Some light restabilization and adhesive along visible fissures on base. Chips to rim and a few nicks in areas. Otherwise, intact and excellent with impressive preservation of painted detail. Scattered root marks.
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