Description:

Pre-Columbian, Southern Mexico to Guatemala, Olmec, ca. 12th to 9th century BCE. A blackware pottery vessel known as a tecomate, characterized by its globular shape and small opening. The highly burnished surface is etched with a linear pattern around the shoulder. The term "tecomate" comes from the Nahuatl word for calabash or gourd, which this vessel's shape resembles. Tecomates were commonly used for storing liquids or grains, and this form may have been inspired by the shape of natural gourds. They were often included as grave goods, placed in tombs as offerings to accompany the deceased in the afterlife, and its symbolic association with the calabash tied it to fertility and abundance in Mesoamerican cosmology. Size: 4.5" Diameter x 3" H (11.4 cm x 7.6 cm)

Provenance: private R.D. collection, Long Beach, California, USA collection, acquired from the 1980s - 2000

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#189740

  • Condition: Intact and excellent. Light mineral deposits and root marks on the surface.

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November 1, 2024 8:00 AM MDT
Louisville, CO, US

Artemis Fine Arts

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