Description:

Pre-Columbian, West Mexico, Nayarit, Ixtlan Del Rio type, ca. 300 BCE to 600 CE. An extraordinary Ixtlan del Rio style pottery vessel in the form of a double-headed or conjoined pair of recumbent figures forming a boat shaped body and openings on the top of both heads. The patterned surface might represent a colorful textile blanket wrapped about their bodies, as if sharing a bed, resting head to foot with each other. However, a slightly more realistic and macabre interpretation of their posture is that this is a funerary bundle, their eyes half closed to indicate they are deceased. Pottery figural vessels like this one are the only remains that we have today of a sophisticated and unique culture in West Mexico. Their tombs were their lasting works of art: skeletons arrayed radially with their feet positioned inward, and pottery vessels with offerings - like this one - placed alongside. Size: 7" L x 3.75" W x 4" H (17.8 cm x 9.5 cm x 10.2 cm)

For a similar example of this style please see the Museo Amparo website, registration number: 52 22 MA FA 57PJ 851.

Provenance: private Lakewood, Colorado, USA collection, acquired 2015; ex-Muzeion Gallery, San Pedro Garza Garcia, Nuevo Leon, Mexico, before 2010; ex-Pierre and Tana Matisse Foundation

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#163382

  • Condition: Some surface nicks and chips, otherwise intact and excellent. Some fading to painted pigments but motifs are discernable. Light mineral deposits on surface and interior.

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November 10, 2022 8:00 AM MST
Louisville, CO, US

Artemis Fine Arts

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