Pre-Columbian, South Coast Peru, Nazca, ca. 300 to 600 CE. A hand-built pottery kero or bowl of a broad form resting on a rounded but stable base with slanted walls, and a deep basin with stone-burnished surfaces and a uniform brick-red hue. The exterior is an amazing polychrome painting of the popular “Anthropomorphic Mythical Beings” that can be interpreted as underworld deities or demons; comprised of spiraling tails and leering humanoid yet feline-esque heads that extend a barb-shaped tongue between their paws. All is painted is slip painted in warm earthen tones of red, brown, tan, white, and black. These pigments were often made with minerals like hematite, limonite, and magnetite, as well as white kaolin clay, and applied with brushes made from llama and alpaca fur, and then given black outlines. A lovely example of these enigmatic beings! Size: 5.75" Diameter x 4.5" H (14.6 cm x 11.4 cm)

Provenance: private New York, New York, USA collection; ex George Grossblatt collection, acquired in the 1960s and thence by descent to his widow B.D., New York City, New York, USA

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#167957

Repaired from 12 pieces with visible break lines within the interior basin and exterior. Chips and losses to some pigments along these fissures. Motifs are still clear and well persevered. Old inventory labels on base.