Very Rare Colima Blackware Vessel - Dancing Dog w/ TL

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Exceptional Day 2: Pre-Columbian & Tribal Art...

By Artemis Gallery

Oct 3, 2019

Set Reminder 2019-10-03 10:00:00 2019-10-03 10:00:00 America/New_York Bidsquare Bidsquare : Exceptional Day 2: Pre-Columbian & Tribal Art https://www.bidsquare.com/auctions/artemis-gallery/exceptional-day-2-pre-columbian-tribal-art-4453
Day 2 of an important 2-day auction featuring exceptional, museum-worthy examples of Pre-Columbian from the ancient Americas, Native American, African / Tribal, Oceanic, Spanish Colonial and fossils. Artemis Gallery info@artemisgallery.com

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• Lot Description
  Pre-Columbian, West Mexico, Colima, Protoclassic Period, ca. 100 BCE to 250 CE. An adorable and exceedingly rare blackware pottery vessel in the form of a dancing dog. The playful pooch stands atop attenuated hind legs and has a rotund abdomen, a pair of raised fore legs, a stocky neck, and a thick tail with a curled tip on the verso for balance. The canine head is turned to its left - as if dancing with its original partner - and features incised almond-shaped eyes, a tapered snout above two rows of delineated teeth, and a pair of perky ears, one of which doubles as the pouring spout. A fantastic example of expressive pottery artistry from ancient West Mexico! Size: 7.4" W x 9.8" H (18.8 cm x 24.9 cm).
  
  Scholars know of at least two types of Colima dogs, one to be fattened up and ritually sacrificed or eaten and one to serve as a watchdog and healer of the ill. This plump hairless canine known as a Chichi or Escuintla is thought to be related to the Chihuahua or Mexican Hairless also known as the Xoloitzcuintle. The Xolo dog was named for the deity Xolotl, the God of the Underworld, and believed to guide the deceased as they journeyed to the afterlife. Colima vessels were buried in shaft tombs to protect the deceased and provide sustenance for eternity, and dancing canine vessels like this example were meant for entertaining one's soul as it traversed the afterlife.
  
  For a stylistically-similar example of a pair of dancing dogs, please see: Richard F. Townsend, general editor. "Ancient West Mexico: Art and Archaeology of the Unknown Past." Thames and Hudson, New York, p. 211, fig. 15.
  
  Another stylistically-similar example, with two conjoined redware dogs, hammered for $18,750 at Sotheby's, New York "African, Oceanic, and Pre-Columbian Art" auction (May 7, 2016, lot 145): https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2016/african-oceanic-pre-columbian-art-n09502/lot.145.html
  
  This piece has been tested using thermoluminescence (TL) analysis and has been found to be ancient and of the period stated. A full report will accompany purchase.
  
  Provenance: ex-private New York, New York, USA collection; ex-Arte Primitivo Gallery, New York, New York, USA; ex-Jack Hart collection, La Jolla, California, USA, acquired in the 1990s; ex-Tomas Rodriquez collection
  
  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.
  
  #148800

  Condition

  Professionally repaired from multiple pieces, with restoration along some missing areas, and resurfacing and overpainting along new material and break lines. Minor abrasions to limbs, body, and head, with fading to original pigmentation, and light encrustations within some recessed areas. Light earthen deposits and great traces of original pigment throughout. Two TL drill holes: beneath right foot, and under left front leg.
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