Moche Fineline Pottery Stirrup Vessel - Marsh Scene

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VARIETY SALE | Antiquities & Ethnographic Art...

By Artemis Gallery

Feb 27, 2020

Set Reminder 2020-02-27 10:00:00 2020-02-27 10:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : VARIETY SALE | Antiquities & Ethnographic Art https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/artemis-gallery/variety-sale-antiquities-ethnographic-art-4920
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• Lot Description
  Pre-Columbian, Central/North Coast Peru, Moche, Phase IV, ca. 450 to 650 CE. A gorgeous example of a hand-built pottery vessel with a flat base, a broad bell-shaped body with a sloped shoulder and a stylized avian figure applied on either side, a raised neck ring, a handle-shaped top section surmounted by a another avian figure, a stirrup-shaped handle, and a cylindrical spout with a uniform rim. The highly burnished vessel is first covered in layers of red slip on the handle, spout, and neck as well as cream slip on the body and top section. Decorated in red pigment around the body is a marsh scene indicated by shallow-water plants, long-legged herons, petite land snails, and schools of fish being hunted by the birds. A pair of abstract birds-of-prey are perched on the sides of the vessel, each with an aquiline beak, and resting on top is a red-hued duck with folded rings and a spade-shaped beak with a frontal bulge. Size: 5.3" W x 9.75" H (13.5 cm x 24.8 cm)
  
  Marsh scenes like that depicted on this vessel are rather unusual for fineline vessels, however they rose to popularity during Phase IV of the Moche culture. According to authors Christopher B. Donnan and Donna McClelland, "During Phase IV, artists continued to use the desert, ocean, and architecture locators that were developed in Phase III. In addition, two new locators were introduced . . . [the second locator of] Marsh is indicated by marsh plants, and herons. This locates the activity in the riverine areas at the deltas of river valleys. The setting can be distinguished from the ocean by vegetation that grows in standing water." (Donnan, Christopher B. and Donna McClelland. "Moche Fineline Painting: Its Evolution and Its Artists." UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History, Los Angeles, 1999, p. 104)
  
  For a couple of stylistically similar examples, please see: Donnan, Christopher B. and Donna McClelland. "Moche Fineline Painting: Its Evolution and Its Artists." UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History, Los Angeles, 1999, p. 98, fig. 4.45 (for fish and birds with a fisherman and manta rays); p. 105, fig. 4.55 (for similar form of vessel).
  
  Provenance: ex-private Hans Juergen Westermann collection, Germany, collected from the 1950s to the 1960s
  
  All items legal to buy/sell under U.S. Statute covering cultural patrimony Code 2600, CHAPTER 14, and are guaranteed to be as described or your money back.
  
  A Certificate of Authenticity will accompany all winning bids.
  
  We ship worldwide and handle all shipping in-house for your convenience.
  
  #153395

  Condition

  Professionally repaired from multiple pieces, with restoration to areas of body, handle, and spout, and resurfacing with overpainting along new material and break lines. Abrasions and minor nicks to base, body, handle-shaped top, handle, and spout, with fading and darkening to original pigment and areas of touch-up painting. Light earthen deposits throughout. Old inventory label beneath base.
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