Description:

Pre-Columbian, Western Mexico, Colima, Nayarit, or Jalisco to Aztec culture, ca. 300 BCE to 1500 CE. A collection of 32 pottery spindle whorls and beads displayed on a modern cord; most are thick discoidal shapes or slightly spherical, with the hole drilled from both directions. The whorls are plain or slipped in red or painted with bitumen black pigments, and the larger whorls have incised linear and geometric motifs etched into the surface. The pottery whorls once fitted onto spindles used for preparing maguey and cotton fibers, in order to maintain or at times increase the speed of the spinning. In addition to this utilitarian purpose, they could be quite aesthetically pleasing and worn like beads. Size of strand: 7" Diameter (17.8 cm); 7.5" H (19 cm) on included custom stand; largest bead: 1.5" Diameter (3.8 cm)

Provenance: private Rochester, Michigan, USA collection, acquired 1978; ex-private Detroit collection, Michigan, USA

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#182653

  • Condition: Losses and chips to peripheries and surface abrasions. Light mineral and earthen encrustations throughout. Strung on a modern nylon cord and displayed on a stand. Note, this is not long enough to wear as a necklace.

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December 14, 2023 8:00 AM MST
Louisville, CO, US

Artemis Fine Arts

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