Cocle Polychrome Olla + Fruitera, Museum Exhibited

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Pre-Columbian | Tribal | Oceanic

By Artemis Gallery

Mar 18, 2021

Set Reminder 2021-03-18 10:00:00 2021-03-18 10:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : Pre-Columbian | Tribal | Oceanic https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/artemis-gallery/pre-columbian-tribal-oceanic-6520
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• Lot Description
  Pre-Columbian, Central America, Panama, Gran Cocle, ca. 800 to 1200 CE. A wonderful pair of Cocle ceramics, including an ample olla and a large pedestaled fruitera, both extensively decorated in a polychrome palette of red, plum, beige, and black pigments. The large bowl of the fruitera is adorned with an overall geometric pattern that is impressively intricate, and the pedestal is decorated with interlocking diamond and v-shaped motifs. The voluminous olla presents a round-bottomed body with curving walls, and a short neck that rises to a gently flaring rim. The exterior walls are decorated with elaborate curvilinear and barbed motifs housing two abstract visages of mythical beasts in black, red, and purple pigments atop the cream-hued ground. The mythical animals shown here would have been of shamanic or spiritual importance, and the use of the purple pigment suggests this vessel is of the Conte/Macaracas artistic style. Two lovely vessels from the ancients of Panama! Fruitera: 10.75" W x 8.375" H (27.3 cm x 21.3 cm) Olla: 6.75" W x 5.625" H (17.1 cm x 14.3 cm)
  
  Beyond the figural iconography, geometric design elements on Cocle pottery were imbued with powerful symbolism, usually referring to the gender constructs. For additional information on iconography, see Armand J. Labbe's "Guardians of the Life Stream" (Bowers Museum of Art, 1995).
  
  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 the 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 Joaquin 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 back 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.)
  
  Provenance: ex-private Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA collection; ex Arte Primitivo; ex private Nevada, USA collection; ex Harmer Rooke Gallery, New York City, New York, USA, 1980s. Exhibited at the Majorie Barrick Museum, UNLV, 1990s. Collection #HR93.18
  
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  #162197

  Condition

  Fruitera has normal surface wear with some scuffs and minor pigment loss. Otherwise the decorative program is well preserved, and the vessel is intact. Olla has expected scuffs, abraded areas, and areas of minute pigment losses commensurate with age, but is otherwise very nice as well.
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