Description:

Pre-Columbian, Central America, Panama, Gran Cocle culture, ca. 900 to 1100 CE. A lovely pottery bowl with flared walls and a ring-shaped base; the interior featuring dramatic imagery of a stylized crocodile figure with diagonal stripes on his abdomen. This example depicts a frontal view of a figure often called the Crocodile God; its body "unzips" down the center to transform into two versions of the same deity in profile. In Panama, the crocodile god, likely associated with strength, the sun, water, and fertility, was the principal deity for more than a thousand years. The fierce animals were connected to the underworld for their ability to float on water and drag their prey underneath to drown it. Size: 12.3" Diameter x 3.8" H (31.2 cm x 9.7 cm)

Cf. University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, object number 40-15-204.

Provenance: Estate of Peter H. Tillou Collection, thence by descent. Acquired in the 1990s, collection # 169. Appraised by Marianne Huber in 2014.

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#188356

  • Condition: Professionally repaired with restoration and repainting over break lines. Small chip to rim as well as some nicks and abrasions, all commensurate with age. Otherwise, nice imagery with rich earthen deposits to surface.

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October 5, 2024 9:00 AM MDT
Louisville, CO, US

Artemis Fine Arts

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