A Mimbres black-on-white bowl
Designed with solid and fine-line geometric decoration, restored.
height 4 1/2in, diameter 10 1/2in
Footnotes:
With ink collection number on the underside: 6500

Exhibited
Decoding Mimbres Painting: Ancient Ceramics of the American Southwest, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA, May 20 - December 2, 2018

Illustrated
Berlant, Tony, and Mauer, Evan, Decoding Mimbres Painting: Ancient Ceramics of the American Southwest, Prestel Publishing, New York, in association with LACMA, 2018, p. 100, described as 'Bowl with Abstraction of Datura Blossom, Datura Stamens, and Hawkmoths.'

In the chapter 'Identifying Mimbres Artists' it is suggested by the authors that 'Our close examination of Mimbres ceramics has led us to conclude that a very small number of master artists in each generation painted all the finest Mimbres bowls... Given the sophistication and variety of compositions, it is clear that Mimbres artists endeavored to devise original and unusual paintings that expressed individuality and dramatic invention.' Ibid. p. 97. Based on criteria further discussed in that chapter, the authors have attributed the present lot as an example of the work of 'The Early Master Artist.'

Provenance
Sold: R.G. Munn Auction, Cloudcroft, CO, March 21, 2006
Property from the Collection of Tony Berlant