47009

Maya Painted Bowl

Currency:USD Category:Art Start Price:375.00 USD Estimated At:1,500.00 - 2,000.00 USD
Maya Painted Bowl
<B>Painted Bowl</B></I><BR>Maya, Ulua Region<BR>A.D. 700 - 850<BR>Polychrome ceramic<BR>Height 5 7/8 in. Width 7 3/8 in.<BR><BR>This tall-sided bowl is lavishly painted on almost every available surface, both inside and out. The dense decoration painted in black, red, and orange is in the distinctive late style of the Ulua region of Honduras. Qualitatively, this vessel is at the highest end of the Ulua region continuum in image formation, surface arrangement, and execution. The principal design, on the larger rounded lower section, repeats the same motif three times. In each unit a seated figure in elaborate regalia faces a large black circular form, the latter bearing what appears to be a complex deity mask done in cream-colored slip (age erosion makes this image very difficult to read with certainty). Each black circle has slightly different bordering decoration, all comprised of feathers and fabric elements. These latter suggest that this represents an altar, though probably one with direct reference to the ritual ballgame. The primarily black body paint of the seated figures can be related to three contexts: war, the ballgame, and merchants, the latter also at times serving as spy-ambassadors.<BR>Five monstrous profile heads are painted on the more vertical upper section, their nose and ear ornaments and headdress elements all carefully delineated. Broad red and narrow black bands separate the upper and lower exterior fields, and a red rim above a black line completes the exterior. On the inside upper section thirteen vertically-oriented profile crocodile-like heads with snouts touching the rim are aligned. Below double black bands three broader red bands cover the inside of the bowl proper. Lighter-toned alternating simple linear shapes punctuate the wider central band. Even the exterior base of the bowl is painted with concentric black and red circles. The bowl is complete, with on <BR><BR><B>Import