Pre-Columbian, Peru, Paracas culture, ca. 800 to 100 BCE. An extensively decorated terracotta bowl - incised and highlighted with red cinnabar on both the interior and exterior. Gracing the tondo and interior walls is a standing figure donning an intricately incised garment with lightning motifs across the chest as well as a grand headdress with feathers or arrow-like ornaments - and brandishing elaborate weapons or ceremonial implements with snakeskin patterns on the vertical elements and extending feather-like ornaments. Below him is a pair of opposing abstract birds. Wrapping around the exterior is a band of continuous diamond forms, each one housing a partially impressed dot - framed by a border of incised lines. A special example from this very early ancient Peruvian culture. Size: 7.125" W x 2.5" H (18.1 cm x 6.4 cm); 8" H (20.3 cm) on included custom stand.

Little is known about the Paracas people, and what little we do know comes from a 1920s archaeological excavation of the Paracas Cavernas, shaft tombs containing multiple burials, many of which contained ceramics like this one, probably for holding offerings or provisioning the dead in the afterlife. Their iconography is stylistic and quite abstract, ideal for representing gods or mythical figures of power like the fellow featured on this piece.

Provenance: private Boulder, Colorado, USA collection, ex-Gill collection, Florida

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#140056

Normal surface wear commensurate with age. Repaired from about half dozen pieces. Incised decoration is vivid. Nice red cinnabar highlights and areas of manganese deposits.