Pre-Columbian, Central America, Panama, Gran Cocle, ca. 600 to 1000 CE. An exquisite handmade pottery vessel of elegant form exhibiting a spherical bowl with a rim curved inward, supported by a thick sloping neck and discoid foot. The redware pedestal bowl is elaborately decorated with horizontal bands of black, sienna, and cream slip near the opening of the bowl, two stripes of black above a geometric design of alternating "v" shapes on its foot, and a ring of black and terracotta on its base. Impressively, both the foot and neck are hollow. A remarkable example from Cocle culture! Size: 4" in diameter x 4.75" H (10.2 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) . . . [and] Most notable in the artistic renderings is 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: private Arcadia, California, USA collection, acquired prior to 2000
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#159576
Condition
Minor chips/nicks to rim. Very light fading and small chips to paint in some areas. Lovely earthen deposits throughout. Otherwise, intact and excellent.