Pre-Columbian, Colombia, Calima people, ca. 100 BCE to 800 CE. An alcarraza, a red-glazed double-spouted vessel with a strap handle and with a very abstract female form. The face is broad, with squinting eyes and a rounded nose; her tiny arms extend from her broad body and hold two spheres. She has incised decoration marking her hair, a necklace, what look like feathered decorations on the sides of her bodies, her nipples, and a square belly-button shape. Items like this one may have been used as bottles for feeding babies (hence the very small spouts). The Calima people lived in the southwestern highlands by the Caribbean coast, and are famous for their goldwork, but they also produced charming pottery figures like this one. This is a type of pottery known as Ilama, which dates to the Formative period for the Calima, characterized by brushed and incised decoration with some incisions filled in with white paste. Size: 5.2" W x 9" H (13.2 cm x 22.9 cm)

Provenance: ex-Americas Artifacts, Roswell, GA, USA; Ex-Private Georgia Collection; Ex-Steve Kramer, acquired 1970s through early 1980s.

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#117925

Repair/repainting to base but it is almost impossible to see.