Pre-Columbian, Brazil, Lower Amazon Basin, Marajo Island, Marajoara culture, ca. 800 to 1400 CE. A beautiful hand-built vase with a planar base, a wide body which gradually tapers inwards, a thick everted rim, and a deep interior cavity. The body is adorned with a dense decorative register of abstract incised geometric motifs, and a contiguous set of incised parallel border lines encloses each shape. The areas surrounding the geometric embellishments are colored with a chalky-white pigment which imbues the vessel with an elegant, uncomplicated bi-chrome presentation. Funerary urns like this example were used to hold the remains of a deceased individual, acting as an informal coffin for burial. Size: 7.5" W x 9.625" H (19 cm x 24.4 cm).

The Marajoara – also known as the Marajo – flourished on Marajo Island in the mouths of the Amazon and Tocantins River in Brazil. They built impressive mounds – ranging from 3 to 10 meters in height - and lived subsistence lifestyles. This was a large-scale civilization, contrary to what many European researchers believed of the Amazon before their discovery, as some sites cover more than 10 square kilometers and contain 20 to 30 individual mounds.

The Marajoara thrived on their island while producing what is generally regarded as the oldest ceramic artform in Brazil – indeed among the oldest forms in the Americas – with numerous decorative traditions and techniques which developed over time. Beginning with the Ananatubas, the oldest potters of the island dating from the 1st millennium BCE, several unique ceramic traditions emerged; however, what is known as the Marajoara polychrome phase existed from about 400 to 1350 CE. Though they developed approximately fifteen different finishing techniques, one of the more stylish and interesting finishes combines red and white wash, incised detailing, excision, and painting in assorted designs similar to this example. Urns like this were buried in the many large cemeteries known from the region, and the soil conditions have preserved the human remains inside them quite well; as of yet, no formal studies have been undertaken on them, representing a potential treasure trove of information that could rewrite what we think of the ancient Amazon Basin.

For a similar example, please see Young-Sanchez, Margaret and Denise Pahl Schaan. Marajo: Ancient Ceramics from the Mouth of the Amazon. Mayer Center for Pre-Columbian & Spanish Colonial Art at the Denver Art Museum, 2011, p. 36, fig. 24.

Provenance: private Hawaii, USA collection; ex-Eugene Lions collection, Geneve, Switzerland

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#133776

Vessel repaired from several large pieces with some resurfacing, overpainting, and light adhesive residue along break lines. Surface wear and abrasions commensurate with age and use, small nicks to rim, body, and base, fading to some finer incised decorations, and fading to areas of pigmentation. Light earthen and mineral deposits throughout. Old inventory number in black ink as well as an old inventory sticker on base.