Pre-Columbian, Northern Colombia, Rio Magdalena, ca. 800 to 1500 CE. A lidded, coiled and hand-built terracotta vessel used for the interment of the elite deceased. The bulbous base is decorated with three applied animorphic creatures, their backs detailed with applied stripes, their four limbs gripping the jar's walls, their visages on the verso delineated with appliqued features. A repeated striped motif adorns the shoulders of the piece, mimicking the stripes decorating each creature. The lid is adorned with a seated nude figure with looped arms and hands placed upon his abdomen. He sits atop a four-legged stool, possibly representing a turtle shell. His expressive visage is comprised of circular open eyes, a protruding curved nose with septum pierced for the suspension of ornaments, an open mouth as if singing, speaking, or chanting, perforated ears, once again for the suspension of ornaments, an endearing cleft chin, and a hemispheric, crescent moon-shaped coiffure or headdress. Such carefully created burial urns with modeled, attached embellishments, whether figural or relatively abstract, were mentioned by Pedro de Aguado, a sixteenth-century Spanish chronicler who described how the bones and ashes of a cremated chief were placed in a clay vessel that was decorated with jewels. A well-executed example from the indigenous of ancient South America. Size: 13.25" W x 22.5" H (33.7 cm x 57.2 cm)

Provenance: Ex-private Poway collection, California

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#118460

Old chips to rim of lid and body. Stable stress crack to lid. Repairs affecting the base but complete. Surface wear commensurate with age. Nice manganese deposits and root marks.