Pre-Columbian, Panama, Gran Cocle, ca. 800 to 1000 CE. A wonderful ensemble of three highly-burnished pottery plates, each with a flared footed base, a thick pedestal neck, a shallow basin, and a rolled rim. The smallest plate has a solid red-slipped pedestal and a pair of ovoid designs in the basin boasting abstract sinuous motifs in red, purple, and black hues atop a cream ground. The medium-sized dish exhibits a red-slipped pedestal with three triangular perforations as well as an abstract polychrome saurian creature atop a cream ground and surrounded by a chromatically-segmented rim. The largest plate has a pedestal decorated in red, black, and cream hued diamond motifs while four enclosed saurian heads rest within a black-bordered basin. With such wonderful artistry and painstaking detail, artifacts from the Gran Cocle Kingdom rival that of even the finest ancient art masters! Size of largest (four saurian heads): 5.25" W x 4.25" H (13.3 cm x 10.8 cm).

Cocle ceramics include some of the most intriguing expressions of visual culture in Pre-Hispanic Central America. Archaeological excavations in the Cocle Province of Central Panama have demonstrated that the Cocle culture emerged in approximately 500 CE and lasted until about 1000 CE. Geometric and zoomorphic design elements such as these were imbued with powerful symbolism in the Pre-Columbian kingdom of Gran Cocle, although the cognitive intent of these has largely been forgotten or is no longer known. Researchers have attempted to relate these figures to real taxa of animals, but ultimately have concluded that they are representative of mythological types. The brightly colored Cocle ceramics refer to the contemporary belief system, which seems to have revolved around a mythic "Rainbow Serpent" who was believed to be the original designer of these motifs. Even though they were contemporaneous with the Diquis culture to the north, their visual culture suggests that the Cocle were a distinct, independent civilization.

Provenance: private Hawaii, USA collection; ex-Robert Sonin, a famous Pre-Columbian gold expert

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#131975

Pedestals and feet of each plate repaired from multiple pieces with areas of restoration, resurfacing, and overpainting along break lines. Some overpainting to areas of tondo designs. Surface wear and abrasions commensurate with age as expected, fading to some areas of pigmentation, with small nicks to feet, rims, and tondos, otherwise excellent. Nice craquelure to painted details. Light earthen and mineral deposits throughout.