Lot 211
Puruha Pottery Effigy Urn - Sunbursts & Volutes
Puruha Pottery Effigy Urn - Sunbursts & Volutes
Starting Bid: $2,500
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Pre-Columbian, Ecuador, Puruha, ca. 1200 - 1500 CE. A monumental ceramic urn rising from a tapering conical base to a swelling ovoid body, crowned by a flaring rim that doubles as the headdress of a modeled human visage. The face peers outward from the vessel's shoulder with round, target-like eyes, a prominent triangular nose, and parted lips, flanked by applied ears and small wing-like lugs that suggest arms drawn close to the body. Negative-resist decoration animates the surface in a vocabulary characteristic of the highland Puruha (Puruha-Cara) potters of central Ecuador's Sierra: registers of running volutes and connected spirals encircle the belly, while bold sunburst rosettes radiate between zigzag bands, hatched triangles, and diagonal lattices in smoky carbon-black against the warm terracotta slip. The reverse displays a contrasting program of crosshatched diamonds and parallel chevrons, demonstrating the potter's confident command of the resist technique, in which organic material was applied to mask portions of the burnished surface before a reduction firing fixed the dark pigment around them. Vessels of this scale likely served funerary purposes, sometimes housing the remains of the deceased in a flexed position, the modeled face standing guard over the spirit within. The sun motifs may allude to celestial cycles tied to agricultural and ancestral rites in the Andean uplands around modern Riobamba, where Puruha communities flourished before Inca incorporation in the late fifteenth century. Size: 11.75" W x 19.25" H x 9" D (29.8 cm W x 48.9 cm H x 22.9 cm D)
Provenance: private Colorado, USA collection, ex Arte Primitivo Gallery, New York, NY, ex collection of Jimmy Belilty, Miami, active since 1974
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Item #
202569
- Condition: Rim reattached, section of central body of reverse repaired almost invisibly, probably from a probe that blew out a section abut 4" by 4".
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| From: | To: | Increments: |
|---|---|---|
| $0 | $749 | $25 |
| $750 | $1,499 | $50 |
| $1,500 | $2,999 | $100 |
| $3,000 | $7,499 | $250 |
| $7,500 | $14,999 | $500 |
| $15,000 + | $1,000 |