Pre-Columbian, Panama, Gran Cocle, ca. 800 to 1000 CE. A beautiful polychrome pedestal frutero dish with a flared foot base supporting a broad and shallow basin with an abstract reptilian creature. The exterior of the bowl and pedestal foot are slipped in a warm orange hue, the rim and interior of the basin are a creamy beige-white- the rim overpainted with a flowing linear register in a black pigment. The interior basin is decorated with a stunning, abstract reptilian creature, its sinuous body coursing across the sloped interior surfaces and terminating in an ovoid head with circular eyes and an upturned snout. The lizard is hand-painted in hues of vermillion red and a mauve purple, outlined in black, and presented atop the cream ground, the purple indicative of the Macaracas style. The spiny/barbed darts hint at the dangerous or protective symbolism of the creature. Scholars believe that while this iconography may be menacing, its powerful energy was intended for good, to protect against evil spirits. Size: 9.5" Diameter x 4.75" H (24.1 cm x 12.1 cm)
According to scholar Samuel Kirkland Lothrop, "The Gran Cocle culture is a Pre-Columbian archaeological culture that gets its name from the area from which it was based, the now present-day Cocle province of Panama. The Gran Cocle term applies to a loosely studied group of Native American sub-cultures in this region, identified by their pottery styles. The overall period spans a time from 150 B.C. to the end in the 16th century A.D. upon Spanish contact. The most ancient culture is the La Mula period from 150 B.C. to 300 A.D. The La Mula and later Monagrillo and Tonosi pottery styles are identified by their use of three paint colors which were black, red and white (or cream). The later Cubita style saw the emergence of the use of four colors. The styles of Conte, Macaracas and Joaquín added purple to their palette and this hue ranged from grayish tones to red purple. The use of purple disappeared in the subsequent styles of Parita and El Altillo and the paint style reverted to the use of three colors. Most notable in the artistic renderings are the overt use of geometric designs." (For more information, see Armand Labbe, "Guardians of The Life Stream: Shamans, Art and Power in Prehispanic Central Panama." Bowers Museum of Cultural Art, University of Washington Press, 1995)
For a similar example please see the Emory University, Michael C. Carlos Museum website, object number: 1990.011.298.
Provenance: private Dodge collection, Superior, Colorado, USA, acquired 2018 from Durango, Colorado collection formed before 1990
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#170599
Condition
Intact and choice! Minor surface wear, chips, and abrasions. Some areas of fading pigment, but motif is clear. Nice root marks and earthen deposits on foot and basin.