Pre-Columbian, South Coast Peru, Nazca, ca. 250 BCE to 125 CE. An impressive, round bottomed polychrome terracotta olla with a collared rim. The iconographic program features a wide register of four snakes of sinuous forms on a red ground, their chocolate brown bodies adorned with a white continuous, rattle-like motifs and trios of linear extensions in chocolate brown, white, and beige; their heads painted in mocha or cream with chocolate brown and white eyes and facial features. The rim and lower band are painted solid chocolate brown with contrasting thin white bands. Snakes were deeply symbolic in the Pre-Columbian world, simultaneously valued as a food source yet feared for their lethal venom, and most importantly metaphors for renewal, rejuvenation, and health given their annual shedding of skin. Size: 7.125" at widest x 6" H (18.1 cm x 15.2 cm)

Provenance: Ex - Reid Collection

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#116106

Chips to rim, else intact and excellent.