Pre-Columbian, West Mexico, Colima, ca. 300 BCE to 300 CE. A gorgeous and sizable redware pottery vessel presenting a gadrooned squash or melon-shaped body supported by a trio of highly stylized avian legs. Each parrot-form leg features an upward-facing body with folded wings, a tapered tail, a teardrop-form head, and a pair of petite eyes resting above a narrow beak. The vessel's broad body exhibits several raised ribs that create a fluted - or 'gadrooned' - surface, and atop the squat neck is a wide, annular rim. Each leg bears a petite perforation along the verso that suggest how rattle balls were perhaps present at one time. Size: 13.125" W x 10.1" H (33.3 cm x 25.7 cm)
In addition to this vessel's impressive form, its iconography is very symbolic. Squashes and fruits symbolized fertility and abundance. Moreover, art imitates life in this ceramic vessel, as the indigenous of Mexico used hollowed gourds for storing and serving food and drink. In addition, in the Pre-Columbian world, birds were understood as sky animals that served as messengers between humankind and the deities of the celestial realm.
Provenance: ex-William and Jane Frazer, Aspen, Colorado, USA, acquired 1980s
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#166639
Condition
Professional repair and restoration to roughly one-quarter of rim, with resurfacing and overpainting along new material and break lines but is nearly invisible. Abrasions and light encrustations, with softening to some avian details, and fading to scattered areas of red pigment. Nice earthen deposits and surface smoothness throughout.