Pre-Columbian, Honduras, Ulua Valley, ca 550 to 900 CE. A polychrome pottery cylinder on three lug-shaped feet painted in shades of red, orange, and black featuring a basket weave pattern on the upper section and many elaborate tassels resembling wings or feathers on the lower band. Size: 4.5" in diameter x 5.5" H (11.4 cm x 14 cm)

According to Smithsonian Center for Materials Research and Education scholars Dorie Reents-Budet and Ronald Bishop, "Today, when high-profile foreign dignitaries visit the White House, they can expect to attend grand dinners and to receive gifts, often custom-made by the best artists in the country. The gifts honor the visitor and showcase the giver's fine taste. In the days of the Classic Maya (250-900 CE), state-level gift-giving was little different, and no gift reflected more meaning or artistic expertise than the painted ceramic vase. Twenty years ago, the hieroglyphs, images, and even origins of these extraordinary vessels were little known. Now, advances in decipherment and chemical technology have made these vases invaluable for exploring the economic, political, and social exploits of the Maya. The vases, used both to serve food at feasts and as gifts presented at such events, were created by highly skilled painters who had mastered the intricacies of Classic Maya religious mythology, ideology, and history, and used hieroglyphic writing as both communication and visual poetry. Artists were highly regarded and often members of elite families." (Archaeology Archive, Vol. 56,Number 2, March/April 2003, abstract)

Provenance: private Healy collection, Studio City, California, USA, acquired at Arte Primitivo Gallery, New York City

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#124050

Chips and stable fissure to rim, slight surface wear with a few scratches. Encrustation and manganese deposits on interior. Manganese on underside.