Pre-Columbian, Ecuador, Chorrera culture, ca. 1500 to 300 BCE. A beautiful hand-built earthenware bowl with a painted and incised anthropomorphic motif on the basin. The bowl rests on a rounded but stable base and the sides gently swell upward to the thick rim. The surface is slip painted in hues of creamy beige and brick red. The figure within the bowl is a highly stylized being, displaying 3 pronged limbs, appearing as giant clawed hands or wings, a square face with protruding ears, and circular eyes. The figure's outline and facial features are incised, then painted red to contrast with the lighter ground. Such bowls were made by the coil and smoothing method, then incised and painted before firing. A truly unique motif of a very imaginative deity or perhaps a shaman in mid-transition to a bird or other creature! Size: 8.75" Diameter x 3" H (22.2 cm x 7.6 cm)

Provenance: Deaccessioned from Ashland University, Ashland, OH, donated to the University between 7/14/1994 and 12/31/1998.

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#165466

Professionally repaired and restored from 2 large pieces. Break line is nearly indiscernible with infill and overpainting. Excellent preservation of incised motif and slip. Nice burnishing marks and scattered manganese deposits.