Pre-Columbian Chupícuaro Face Tripod Vessel, Protoclassic Period, 300-100 Before Common Era - 1 Piece

Details

Description

Chupícuaro Face Tripod Vessel, Protoclassic, 300-100 BCE.

Offered is an ancient Chupícuaro vessel, tripod form with lipped rim, flared thick … Read more Chupícuaro Face Tripod Vessel, Protoclassic, 300-100 BCE.

Offered is an ancient Chupícuaro vessel, tripod form with lipped rim, flared thick concave walls and serrated conical supports, facial mask features at one side delineated with delicacy and refinement; eyes, and mouth seem to rise almost imperceptibly from the surface of the vessel, whilst the nose is aquiline and delicately modeled, carefully painted with a cream and black slip stepped cross motif over a deep red ground, so characteristic of the Chupícuaro style. Gallery label adhered to verso, ink marked "K924 - B5m 26."

Origin: Mexico.
Period: 300-100 BCE.
Material: Earthenware with pigment.

Measures: 6.75 D x 4.5 H in. (17.15 D x 11.43 H cm).
Weight: 1 pound, 12 ounces (794g).

Provenance: Ex-Northern California private collection, active as a collector from the 1960s - 1980s, acquired from Mathias Komor Works of Art,* 19 E 71st St, New York, NY 10021, circa 1970s. Private provenance available upon request.

Documentation: *Gallery label adhered to verso, hand written description and inventory numbers.

Notes: Richard Townsend, discussing Chupícuaro ceramic figures that bear similar patterns to their bodies and faces, notes that these intricate motifs “seem to correspond to body paint applied by Chupícuaro women on ceremonial occasions.” (Richard F. Townsend, ed., Ancient West Mexico: Art and Archaeology of the Unknown Past, Chicago, 1998, p. 116). Chupícuaro ceramic tradition was well-established and highly sophisticated, and Chupícuaro sites had important trade links “to the great Late Formative urban communities of the Valley of Mexico, such as Cuicuilco and early Teotihuacan […and] Jalisco and the basins and ranges of the plateaus beyond.” (ibid., p. 117). See less