Lot 10B
Pre-Columbian, South Coast Peru, Nazca Culture, ca. 200 BCE to 600 CE. A striking group of three hand-built Nazca pottery vessels, each displaying the refined craftsmanship and vivid imagination of this early Andean culture. The set includes a large jar with a flaring rim and intricate abstract zoomorphic design in bold red and black over a cream ground; a smaller conical bowl encircled by six stylized birds in flight, their forms rendered in rich russet and umber; and a rounded beaker-shaped cup with a band of dotted motifs encircling its rim. Nazca artisans were celebrated for their mastery of slip-painted ceramics, employing mineral-based pigments in a wide palette to depict deities, animals, and supernatural beings with rhythmic precision. The zoomorphic vessel here exemplifies that expressive visual language, its interlocking forms perhaps representing a mythic composite creature or a spirit transformation scene. Size: 5.8" Diameter x 3.6" H (14.7 cm x 9.1 cm)
The avian bowl, with its repeated bird figures, embodies the Nazca fascination with movement and fertility, while the simpler beaker balances the composition with its elegant restraint. These vessels likely served ritual or domestic functions - used in the offering of chicha or maize beer, or as ceremonial tableware in ancestral rites. Their refined surfaces and balanced proportions speak to the deep spiritual and aesthetic sensibility of Nazca culture, where the boundaries between the utilitarian and the sacred dissolved into pure artistic harmony.
The cup with bird motifs has been tested using thermoluminescence (TL) analysis by QED Laboratoire and has been found to be ancient and of the period stated. A full report will accompany the item upon purchase.
The largest piece has been tested using thermoluminescence (TL) analysis by Artemis Testing Lab and has been found to be ancient and of the period stated. A full printed and bound report will accompany the item upon purchase.
Provenance: private Colorado, USA collection; turkeys: ex-Horus Fine Arts, Barcelona, Spain; buff jar: ex-South Bay Auctions, East Moriches, New York, USA; ex-Robert Mapplethorpe collection; ex-Christie's, New York, New York, USA, "The Robert Mapplethorpe Collection" sale, October 31, 1989, lot 368 (1 of 9); taller flared: ex-Leonard Auction, Addison, Illinois, USA, 2024; ex-private Roselle, Illinois, USA collection; jar w/ turkeys: ex-Horus Fine Art, Barcelona, Spain; ex-private H.R. Pons (1928-2013) collection, Barcelona, Spain, acquired 1940 to 1970, thence by descent
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#196498
- Condition: Largest has been professionally repaired with restoration and repainting over break lines. Chip to rim of cup and stable hairline fissures to other two. All have nicks and abrasions commensurate with age. Largest has TL holes to interior rim and interior basin. Vessel with birds has TL hole to base. Cup has old Christie's labels on side and underside of base.
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