Native American, North America, West of Mississippi River (modern day Arkansas), Quapaw culture, ca. 1500 CE. An elegant bichrome pottery vessel with a near-spherical body and a tubular neck that rises above, all upon a raised discoid foot. The colorful decorative program is characteristic of Quapaw pottery, with alternating red and cream bands spiraling around the exterior walls and red and cream stepped pyramidal motifs adorning the neck. The Quapaw were Native Americans who lived in four villages along the Mississippi River in what is now Arkansas from ca. 1500 through the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The tribe was divided into two large moieties (divisions) - Earth and Sky - and twenty-one clans. Elegantly hand-built and brilliantly hued ceramics like this example are some of their most lasting artistic achievements. Size: 7.75" W x 9.375" H (19.7 cm x 23.8 cm)
According to the Museum of Native American History (MONAH), "The artistic design that went into decorating these pottery vessels varied by region, but nowhere had it surpassed the expert craftsmanship and artistic design that was found by the inhabitants that lived in the area now known as modern day Arkansas. The Arkansas area was occupied by three major groups during this period: the Caddo in the southwest, the Quapaw along the lower Arkansas River, and a group simply called the Mississippians in the northeast."
This piece has been tested using thermoluminescence (TL) analysis and has been found to be ancient and/or of the period stated. A full report will accompany purchase.
Provenance: private Kansas City, Missouri, USA collection, ex-John Townsend collection, formed in the 1970s and earlier
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#161638
Condition
Chips to rim and periphery of base. Expected surface wear with nicks, abraded areas, and some pigment loss, though much remains. Some impressions from tools used to handle vessel when wet or leather hard. TL holes on bottom and inside rim.