**Originally Listed At $2500**

Pre-Columbian, Horqueta, Colombia, San Agustin, ca. 600 BCE to 100 CE. A massive phallic urn with a rounded lid and an incised and stippled lizard motif on its broad shoulder. The body is rounded, tapering to a narrow, curved base, with a broad shoulder decorated with a double band of stippled dots; this motif is mirrored around the corseted neck. On the shoulder, the lizard is shown from the top down, its limbs splayed outward as if it is sunning itself on the broad shoulder of the vessel. A rolled, slightly indented rim, its top and bottom incised lightly to give it a nice texture, completes the vessel form. Fitting neatly inside of it is a rounded, hollow lid that narrows at its base, where it is decorated with incised, step-like motifs. Size: 18" W x 24" H (45.7 cm x 61 cm); 26" H (66 cm) on included custom stand.

San Agustin, located in the Andes, was a distinctive cultural area which is known for its distinctive lithic and ceramic tradition, which often has an emphasis on phallic forms. These phallic forms were used in tomb architecture and in burial urns like this one.

See a similar example at the Walters Museum, Baltimore, USA: http://art.thewalters.org/detail/79391/lidded-burial-urn/

This piece has been tested using thermoluminescence (TL) and has been found to be ancient and of the period stated. A full report will accompany purchase.

Provenance: private Hawaii, USA collection; ex-Alt Amerikanisches Museum, Zurich, Switzerland

All items legal to buy/sell under U.S. Statute covering cultural patrimony Code 2600, CHAPTER 14, and are guaranteed to be as described or your money back.

A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids.

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#132596

Repaired and restored from multiple pieces. Repairs are essentially invisible. Nice deposits on surface, especially around the rim and upper shoulder.