Lot 121A
Pre-Columbian, Maya territories, Guatemala / Honduras region, ca. 550 to 900 CE. A delightful pottery bowl skillfully hand-painted with 3 zoomorphic creatures resembling monkey deities, each shown in stride with arms expressively thrown outwards. Facing right, the 3 figures stand on bent legs with their sinuous tails coiling behind them. Bracelets and wristlets adorn their anthropomorphic limbs as their profile visages each display bulging eyes, a curved nose, a down-turned mouth, and a prominent top crest. A band of spiraling glyph-like motifs lines the exterior of the rim. Size: 6.7" Diameter x 4" H (17 cm x 10.2 cm)
Monkeys were prevalent in the Mesoamerican lowlands, with the two most common species being the howler monkey and the spider monkey. However, the monkeys depicted on hachas are highly stylized, abstracting the monkeys essential characteristics. Monkeys were represented often in various art forms, including stone pedestal sculptures, mushroom stones, architectural reliefs, ceramic figures, whistles, and effigy vessels, as well as hachas for the traditional ballgame.
It is fitting that this monkey appears on a work of Maya art, as monkeys are associated with creativity in the Popol Vuh where the older brothers of the Hero Twins are named "One Monkey" (Hun batz) and "One Artisan" (Hun chouen), translated at times to One Howler monkey and One Spider monkey. These half brothers were believed to be carvers, writers, flautists, singers, in short, men of genius. When they were defeated by the Hero Twins and converted into monkeys, they rose to the occasion and became patrons of the arts, and in time, the object of writers' and carvers' prayers.
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Provenance: private Hawaii, USA collection; ex-Howard Handler estate, New York, USA, 1960s
All items legal to buy/sell under U.S. Statute covering cultural patrimony Code 2600, CHAPTER 14, and are guaranteed to be as described or your money back.
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#177586
- Condition: Professionally repaired and restored with repainting over break lines and light surface wear as shown. Otherwise, excellent preservation of form and imagery with chemical deposits in areas.
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